Undertow
by Madaboutagirl
Summary: From a Tumblr prompt about a new doc on Grey's. Thank you to GA for letting me borrow your characters for this fanfic and hope you like the new ones. It started as a one-shot, then went to a full blown CALZONA Story!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: One shot (?) Tumblr prompt about a new doc... what do you think?**

* * *

"Who is Arizona talking to over there?" Callie asks Alex as they watch the blonde from across the bar at Joe's.

"I have no idea." He says glancing up and then back down to his beer.

"Why does he have his hand on her back? That seems weird doesn't it? I mean Arizona isn't super touchy feely with people, especially not guys. So who the hell is this guy?" Callie continues to ask.

"Look, just go over there and she'll probably introduce him to you." Alex suggests.

"Wait, there's Kepner. Now he's got an arm around both of them. This is just, well, weird. Okay? Would you at least say it's weird?" She asks him again, this time nudging him with her shoulder.

"Why do you even care?" Alex counters taking another sip of his beer and setting back in his chair.

"I don't, it's just well, who is he? He's still holding her close and she's practically leaning into him. She doesn't do that, so who the hell is this guy?" Callie asks again, before getting up and heading to the bathroom.

* * *

"Meredith, have you met this new doctor?" Callie asks as they run into each other in the daycare the next day.

"Not yet, why?" She asks looking up from taking Bailey's coat off and watching Callie take Ellis out of her carrier. "I heard that he's from San Francisco," she offers.

"Oh, well that's interesting. Where did he go to med school?" Callie asks.

"We'll find out in the staff meeting, now come on. We're late." Meredith remarks as she takes her baby and kisses her and hands her over to Janet. "I didn't have time to pump yet, so I'll be back in an hour or so to feed her." Meredith tells the daycare worker.

* * *

"I'd like to introduce Dr. Darren Paulson, our new head of trauma. Darren comes to us from San Francisco Medical, he is a Stanford graduate went to Hopkins and has served overseas with Doctors Without Borders. He'll be working closely with Kepner this week, so please everyone welcome him to Grey Sloan Memorial." Webber says before moving on to the next topic on the agenda.

"That's who Arizona was with last night." Callie says nudging Meredith.

"What?" Meredith mouths.

"Nevermind. I'll tell you later." Callie whispers, then glances over at Karev and nods to him.

He shakes his head. He knows better than to let Callie drag him into whatever she's got going on with Arizona.

Annoyed that Alex isn't any help, Callie sits back in her chair and continues to watch her ex and this new doctor. They are sitting quite closely and he keeps leaning over to whisper in her hair. What the hell is this? Callie wonders, she knows that Arizona has never been with a guy, but if she didn't know better she'd think they were seeing each other.

* * *

Walking out of the elevator later that day, Callie watches Arizona and Paulson go into an on-call room near the ER. What the hell is going on? Callie stands there stunned unable to believe what she just witnessed.

"Hello, Dr Torres. Did you need something?" Kepner asks when she sees Callie just standing in the hall.

"Oh, no. I'm just huh, have you seen Arizona? I need to talk to her about, uh, Sofia tonight. If you see her, let her know." Callie stammers and walks away.

* * *

"Shepherd!" Callie whispers loudly and motions for Amelia to come into her lab.

"Have you met the new doc?" Callie asks her.

"Yeah, I met him last night, why? Are you interested, because I should tell you..." Amelia replies before Callie cuts her off.

"Don't tell me. Wait, okay I just want to know what's going on with him and Arizona?" Callie responds.

"You don't know, do you?" Amelia asks, leaning back on the table amused at Callie's discomfort.

"They met in Malawi at her clinic. I can't believe that Arizona never told you this story." Amelia replies shaking her head in wonder. "It's a great story, but not mine to tell." She adds.

"We, uh, never talked much about Malawi. The whole thing has always been a sore subject with us." Callie admits.

"You should change that, you're missing an interesting part of Arizona's life." Amelia says before leaving the lab.

* * *

Hearing a soft knock on the lab door, Callie looks up to see Arizona walking in with Sofia. "Hey, April said you wanted to talk about tonight?"

"Oh, you're going to take her tonight?" Callie asks looking up.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I, it's my night." Arizona asks confused.

"I just, uh, thought maybe you would want the night off, so I was going to offer to keep her." Callie replies.

Cocking her head in confusion, Arizona pauses and then asks, "What's going on with you? Where is this coming from"

"I just uh, saw you last night at Joe's and then today, it seems like you and Dr Paulson are, uh, close. So I was just offering to take Sofia for you, so you could, uh, be... you know close." Callie replies awkwardly.

"Callie, it's not what you think. He and I were very close in Malawi. He's just a friend." Arizona replies carefully.

"Right, well, I just have never even heard of him and I've never seen you let a guy... look, it's not my business what you do in on-call rooms." She stammers.

"Calliope? You're jealous." Arizona says amused. "He's a guy, Callie." She reminds her, not wanting to say too much in front of Sofia, god knows when and what she'd repeat.

"I know what I saw, but it's not, not my business. I just wanted to offer to take our daughter tonight, so you could, you know do whatever." Callie says again, not making eye contact with the blonde.

"Thanks, I guess. But it's fine. Darren is waiting, so we're leaving now." Arizona replies turning to go, "Sofia, say goodbye to Mami, we'll see her tomorrow."

* * *

"As if she has any right to be jealous of anyone in my life." Arizona says taking a sip of wine.

"Jealousy is a green-eyed monster and you can't reason with monsters." Darren replies laughing and holding up his glass before taking a sip.

The two friends are laying on the couch together after putting Sofia to bed in Arizona's new condo. Darren moved in across the hall and now they are spending a lot of time together. The blonde didn't realize how lonely she was until Darren contacted her and told her that he was interviewing for Hunt's job. Then he came out and it was like they had been friends their whole lives. She can understand why Callie is jealous, even if it's for the wrong reason.

"So when is Mark moving up from San Francisco?" Arizona asks.

"He's coming up this weekend, but he's still going to be working there until he finishes up the remodel and sells the loft." Darren explains. "We should invite Callie over to meet him, that should blow her mind to see you with two handsome men." He replies laughing.

"I should probably tell her that you're gay." Arizona admits, "She must of seen us go into the on-call room to Skype with Mark though, because she was almost crazy jealous tonight."

"She should be crazy jealous, because you're amazing and not going to be single forever." He says kissing her head. "Not with Mark around, he's a crazy wingman for lesbians. That's why we don't have any single lesbian friends, he finds them girlfriends." Darren explains.

 **A/N: This story popped into my head last night as I drifted off to sleep, so I wrote this chapter quickly before work. How amazing to come home to find so many kind reviews! I've edited it now and am working on the next chapter, hope to post it tomorrow before work. xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I reworked this chapter after reading the comments. I agree, this whole situation needs to be drawn out more. Thanks for the feedback!**

* * *

"Good morning," Callie says as Arizona and Sofia enter the daycare.

"Mami!" Sofia exclaims running to the Latina, "Uncle D made pancakes this morning!"

"Pancakes? Wow, Uncle D must of woken up early today." Callie says glancing questioningly over to Arizona.

"Let's go get coffee and let me explain." Arizona suggests as Sofia gets settled into the daycare routine.

"Uncle D? Arizona... Wait, do you have a brother that I didn't know about?" Callie asks as they walk down the hall towards the cafeteria.

"No Callie, he's not my brother. But he is a very close friend, who happens to live across the hall from me." Arizona says as the stand in line for coffee.

"He lives at Alex's house?" Callie asks confused.

"Callie, I moved into my own place a few weeks ago. I told you this. You kept Sofia an extra couple of days so that I could move?" Arizona reminds her.

"Oh right, I guess I've been too wrapped up in this project to pay much attention to anything else." The brunette asks herself.

"So you did not save the text, the one that I sent with my new address?" Arizona asks her ex.

"Uh, no. I must of missed that one." Callie admits.

"Well, I'll email it to you," she replies annoyed. "Oh no," Arizona says as her pager goes off. "Sorry, I've got to run to the pit. I'm covering for Alex today." She explains.

"Just fricking perfect," Callie says loudly watching the blonde leave, "I still don't know who this man is that my daughter is calling Uncle D."

* * *

"Did you tell her?" Darren asks later that morning when he see's Arizona in the ER.

"Not exactly, and to make things worse, Sofia told her you made pancakes this morning and called you Uncle D. Then we went to get coffee so that I could explain but then I got paged down here." Arizona explains.

"So she's still jealous of me and you?" He asks.

"I guess, it's kind of funny that she's jealous of you, when she knows that I'm a lesbian." Arizona says laughing.

"Well, you wouldn't be the first lesbian to want some of this?" Darren replies playfully.

"Ew. No thanks." Arizona says scrunching up her face.

"Yeah, right back at ya." He says laughing and returning her facial expression.

* * *

"You page Ortho for a consult?" Callie says walking up to Kepner in the ER.

"Not me, must of been Dr Paulsen, he's in trauma room 3." Aprils says taking a chart from the desk and reviewing it.

Taking a deep breath, Callie knew it was just a matter of time before this would happen.

Pushing the door open, she is surprised to see Arizona on the table with no pants and Dr Paulsen examining her stump.

"W-what happened?" She asks moving to Arizona's side. Then glancing over she sees her damaged prosthetic.

"Are you going to tell her or should I" Arizona says glaring at Paulsen.

"Okay, I'll tell her." He says turning towards Callie. "I sort of ran over her with the EKG machine."

"On purpose." Arizona finishes his sentence.

"Not on purpose." Darren counters, "Okay maybe a little bit on purpose. But I wanted her to move and she wouldn't move out of the way, so I just kind of..."

"He rammed me with the cart." Arizona says turning to her. "You know how the leg kind of hangs up if I try to move too fast at certain angles, well Dr Impatient here didn't give me enough time to get out of his way and he ran me over."

"I didn't know. You used to move faster!" Darren replies.

"Yeah, when I had two legs!" Arizona counters. Then they both start laughing.

Uncomfortable with their casual banter, Callie moves over and picks up the prosthetic. "I don't know if I can fix this one. I'm going to have to order this piece." She says turning it over in her hands and heading towards the door.

"Callie wait!" Arizona calls out. "You can't just leave me in here with this idiot." She says glaring at Darren.

"Well come to the lab and I'll see what I can do with this." She says glaring back at the two of them.

"Go get me a chair Darren, this is your fault!" Arizona says loudly, shooing him out of the room.

"Okay, okay. I'll be right back." He says leaving.

"Callie, I'm sorry that he paged you. I told him to call Roger in PT. If you don't have time, then I can just go there and Roger can fix me up with one of the older models, until I can get this one fixed." Arizona says apologizing.

"Oh, no you don't. Put your pants on and get to the lab, I have an idea." Callie says excitedly. "I'll meet you there."

* * *

"So that's Calliope Torres." Darren says pushing Arizona down the hall.

"Yes." Arizona replies still wondering how Callie is going to fix her prosthetic, she knows that look and it's usually a good sign.

"Is she usually that, uh, annoyed?" He asks carefully.

"Remember that my 'boyfriend' paged her to the ER because he broke my prosthetic, so yeah, she's a little bit annoyed Darren." Arizona reminds him.

"She really has no gaydar at all?" He asks again.

"None whatsoever." Arizona says looking up at him smiling. "And Darren, don't do anything else. Don't poke the bear!"

Arizona says that last line under her breath as they enter the lab to see Callie has already completely dismantled the broken prosthetic.

"Oh wow." Darren says softly under his breath. "I'll just leave you here and um, I'll get back to the pit." He says slowly backing out of the lab. Callie hasn't even acknowledged them yet, she's so caught up in what she's doing.

"What's the plan?" Arizona asks after clearing her throat trying to get Callie's attention.

Glancing up, Callie sees her and smiles, then looks around the room and asks, "Where's Dr. Paulsen?"

"He went back to the pit. Now what are you doing with my leg?" The blonde asks rolling closer to the table and pulling herself up to stand beside Callie.

"I have an extra prototype of the prosthetic for the Wounded Warrior program, it was too small for any of the guys, but its the right size for you. I've modified it, since you don't have the sensors, and attached it to your sleeve." Callie explains and glances at Arizona nervously.

"So I can try it right now?" Arizona asks surprised.

Nodding excitedly, Callie flashes her megawatt smile. "Sit back down in the chair and let me attach it for you."

Lowering herself in the chair carefully, Arizona watches Callie pick up the prosthetic and kneel in front of her.

Nervously, Callie realizes that Arizona needs to remove her scrub pants for this to work, so she pauses a moment.

"I'll close the door so you can remove your pants and we can attach the leg."

Moving across the room to close the door, Callie watches Arizona slip the pants off.

Licking her lips nervously, Callie kneels down in front of the blonde again.

Carefully, she examines the stump before slipping the sleeve on it. Running her hands along the prosthetic, Callie makes sure it's all set before she looks up at the blonde and into those ocean blue eyes that make her heart flutter.

"Are you ready to stand up?" Callie asks her, rising to her feet.

Arizona doesn't reply right away, since she's distracted by having Callie so close to her. Feeling the Latina's energy and excitement, not to mention the soft caring look in those brown eyes, the blonde takes a minute before responding.

"Problem?" Callie asks concerned, about to kneel back down.

Licking her lips, Arizona replies, "No, no problem. Just, uh, needed a minute." She explains nervously as she moves forward in the wheelchair.

Callie reaches out to take her hands. "Just come up slowly and put weight on it gradually."

Arizona pulls herself up and stands carefully. Then smiles as she puts her weight on it and then leans forward.

"Arizona wait..." Callie says stepping in front of her.

"Callie, its okay. It feels perfect." Arizona says nervously biting her lip as she their faces are now just inches apart.

Stepping back, but unable to stop looking at those soft pink lips, Callie distractedly agrees and let's the blonde take a few steps on the new leg.

"Stop, come back. I want to make one adjustment." Callie calls out to her.

Pivoting too quickly, Arizona loses her balance and Callie rushes over to catch her.

Their faces inches apart again, both breathless at the sudden intimacy and focused on each other's lips they inch closer until Callie breaks the spell and pivots them so Arizona can drop into the chair.

"I'm just going to remove this and adjust it." Callie says awkwardly as she reaches down and removes the prosthetic from the blonde.

Embarrassed to be sitting in Callie's lab in her underwear, Arizona glances around nervously and sees a photo of Callie and Sofia that she took.

"That's one of my favorite photos of you and Sofia," she says nodding towards the frame.

Pausing to look over at the blonde, Callie sighs, "I've almost got this ready. It should be good to go now."

Callie crosses back over and kneels in front of Arizona to reattach the prosthetic, she checks the sleeve and then runs her hand down the leg again.

Nervously watching Callie, Arizona can't help but shiver when she touches the prosthetic, even though she can't feel the touch, her body still reacts to seeing Callie do it.

"Are you okay?" Callie asks noticing her fidget.

"Yeah, maybe I can put my pants back on now though..." Arizona asks softly indicating her scrub pants on the other chair.

"Oh right, of course." Callie pivots and grabs them before helping slip them up and over the prosthetic.

"Okay, now let's try this again," she says standing up and taking Arizona's hands again.

"Callie, this feels really good. It's lighter and more flexible." Arizona says taking a few steps on her own.

"Go slow, don't try anything..." Callie starts to say, but it's too late. The blonde takes a couple of quick steps forward, then stops quickly.

Smiling Arizona turns back around and walks over to the Latina, "Thanks Callie. I'll have Roger order a new leg and then you can have this one back for your project."

"Arizona, wait. I don't need that one back and actually I just ruined it anyway." Callie admits.

Nervously, Callie licks her lips, then adds, "Arizona, I'm sorry that I've been so distant lately. It's really pathetic that not only do we work in the same hospital and live in the same town, I don't know where you live or who your friends are any more."

"I'll resend my address to you and maybe we can find time for you to visit," the blonde replies smiling.

"Oh, okay." Callie says turning away, unsure how to end the conversation.

Behind her Arizona pauses and glances around the lab at a loss as to what to do or say next, finally she replies "Well, I should get back upstairs. I need to round on Karev's patients."

* * *

Walking down the hall, Arizona receives a text from Darren, "Dinner tonight, on me."

Responding she smiles and replies, "It's the least that you can do."

"Dr Robbins is everything all right? I heard that you had an accident in the pit today?" Dr Webber asks falling into step with the blonde.

Slipping her phone into her lab pocket, Arizona smiles at him. "Oh it's fine. Dr Torres was able to repair my prosthetic. I'm good as new," she replies.

"Still, you need to fill out an incident report. Now, I've got to find Paulsen, he has to fill one out too." Webber says as she steps onto the elevator.

* * *

"Hey, it's not my fault you didn't close the deal. I got you without pants in a room alone with her. What kind of lesbian are you?" He teases.

"Just keep writing. I'm not discussing this with you." Arizona says glaring at him.

"She seriously thinks that we're a thing?" He asks again.

"I told you she has zero gaydar." Arizona repeats, shaking her head.

"Yeah, but she knows you. So why would she think that I would be the one guy you'd fall for?" He asks, suddenly intrigued by his own question.

"I don't know. It's probably more that she hasn't seen me around many men that I'm close with, so she doesn't have anything to compare it with. Actually, she kind of did this when Nick was here too." Arizona adds, remembering laying with Nick in the hospital bed before she left for Boise. Tearing up, she looks away and pulls out her phone to distract herself from the memory.

"Arizona, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring all this up." Darren says reaching over to put his hand on her shoulder. He knows all about Nick and how he died around the same time that she lost her leg.

Turning towards him, he pulls her close and she cries softly into his shoulder.

Just as the Janet from HR opens the door to bring Callie in to fill out a treatment form. "Oh sorry, Dr Robbins are you all right," Janet asks concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine." She says pulling away from him and taking a deep breath. Then turning around, she sees Callie standing there concerned.

"I'm done here. So I'll just, uh, get back to work." Arizona says handing Janet her form and slipping past Callie on her way out of the room.

Awkwardly, Callie stands there staring at Darren and Janet follows Arizona out of the room.

"Uh, well that was weird. Is she all right, really?" Callie asks Darren.

"Yeah, we were just talking and Nick came up," he explains.

"She doesn't talk about Nick." Callie replies, then adds, "Oh sure, she talks to you about Nick. She probably talks to you about everything." Annoyed, Callie snatches the form off the desk, "I can fill this out in my office." She says slamming the door as she leaves.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I reworked Ch 2, so if you haven't read the updated version, this one will be confusing.**

* * *

"And then she slammed the door and left. I'm telling you these two are not anywhere near done with each other." Darren is telling Mark what happened today.

"Okay, well don't do anything else until I get there. I want to meet this Calliope Torres and evaluate this situation myself." Mark replies. "Speaking of which, I hired a realtor and put the loft on the market."

"I thought you had you mind set on selling it yourself?" Darren responds.

"That was before my husband moved to Seattle to be with his lesbian girlfriend." Mark replies sarcastically. "I feel like I'm missing out on all the fun. Now how is little Miss Sofia?" He asks.

* * *

"Darren, you've invited people over to your place this weekend?" Arizona asks cornering him in the lounge. "Why didn't you mention this to me this morning on the drive in to work?"

"It was Mark's idea and I had to wait for him to figure out his schedule. He's coming in tonight and wants to meet everyone this weekend." Darren explains quickly.

"I haven't even told people that I moved out of Alex's place and now you're inviting them all over." Arizona complains.

"Well, I'm not inviting them over to your place." He replies.

"But it's going to be weird if I don't do something too. I can't just hang out there and not invite my friends to my place when its just across the hall. Mark better be planning to help me get my place together too." She counters.

* * *

"What's this I hear about Dr Paulsen having a party on Sunday?" Callie asks Arizona later that day.

"Oh, apparently he woke up today and decided to have a party and invited half the hospital over to his place." Arizona explains, still annoyed.

"And you're upset about him having a party?" Callie asks confused.

"Well, now I feel like I have to do something too, since I live across the hall." Arizona blurts out.

"Okay." Callie says still not understanding what's going on with Arizona and Dr Paulsen.

"Hey Robbins, why is Paulsen having a party at your apartment?" Alex asks holding up a flyer as he enters the lounge.

"He lives across the hall, give me that." She says snatching it from him. "I'm going to kill him. This is my apartment number not his."

* * *

"Arizona I'm sorry. I should have double checked it before I printed them. But Mark sent it to me and told me to post it right away. Don't worry, it'll be fun. We'll help you get your place ready. Mark throws amazing parties." Darren replies hoping to calm her down. He knew what Mark was doing and was ready for this response, just surprised it too the blonde so long to find out that it was her apartment on the flyer.

"I know what you're up to and it's not going to work." Arizona replies. "I don't do fix ups and you better tell that to Mark."

"He loves you and just wants to see you happy." Darren replies softly reaching out to rub her shoulder.

Shrugging him off, Arizona points her finger and replies, "Tell Mark I don't need to be fixed up, I am fine."

Laughing softly to himself as she strides away, Darren pulls out his phone and texts Mark.

"You've poked the bear. You better pick up some donuts on your way in tonight. Get the sprinkles, she's not happy."

"I ordered some from the bakery around the corner, they'll be delivered in an hour!" Mark replies.

"Oh damn, you're good. I forgot how good you are at this." Darren teases.

"Another reason for me to get my ass to Seattle more quickly." He teases back.

* * *

"You have donuts!" Bailey exclaims as she enters the blonde's office.

"Yes, a friend sent them to me. Have one." Arizona says offering the box.

"So why exactly are you having a party on Sunday." Bailey asks as she selects a donut from the box.

"It's not my party, it's Dr Paulsen's party." Arizona explains.

"Right, but why is it at your apartment?" She asks again.

"He lives across the hall and apparently got the numbers mixed up when they made the flyers." Arizona replies.

"When who made the flyers? How does the man not know his own apartment number?" Bailey counters.

"His husband made the flyers and he hasn't moved here yet," the blonde explains.

"His husband? I knew it, I told Ben that man was gay. You know that Torres is all bent out of shape watching the two of you being all buddy, buddy." Bailey informs her.

* * *

"Arizona is a lesbian Callie, she's not dating Paulsen. They're just friends, they were in Africa together or something, Alex told me." Meredith is trying to talk Callie down over lunch.

"But I've never even heard of this guy, then he suddenly appears here at our hospital, replacing Hunt." Callie replies, "Have you seen them together? They are like really close. At Joe's the other night he stood with his arm around her waist!"

"They're friends Callie. Have you not seen Arizona with her friends before?" Meredith asks.

"Just Nick, all her other friends are our friends. Well, except for April, she's really more Arizona's friend than mine." Callie replies. "And you're right. She and Nick were like that. When he was here, she would climb up in the hospital bed with him. Mer, I know that she's a lesbian, but I don't understand how he knows so much more than I do. Arizona and I were together for almost six years and we were close, but watching her with him, I just feel like he's closer to her than I am."

"Callie, just be glad it's a friend and not a girlfriend." Meredith points out.

"We did break up. She should have a girlfriend. Hell I should have one or a boyfriend, why are neither of us dating?" Callie goes off track again.

Shaking her head Meredith laughs.

"What's so funny?" Callie asks confused.

"Neither of you have moved on, that's why you're not dating." Meredith says as she stands up to leave Callie flabbergasted at the table.


	4. Chapter 4

"I can pick Sofia up in the morning, it's on the way and it's your day off." Callie offering to pick up their daughter so Arizona can enjoy her day off is very unusual.

"Callie, I don't have any plans, you don't have to do that." Arizona replies.

"I don't mind. Besides, I haven't seen your place or Sofia's room yet." Callie reminds her.

Finally the blonde realizes what's going on, Callie doesn't want to see her place for the first time when everyone else does. "Okay, that would be great." Arizona relents, "Just text me when you leave your house and I'll make sure she's ready for you to pick her up."

"Now do you need any help getting ready for your party on Sunday?" Callie offers.

"Um, Callie what is going on? You didn't even remember that I moved and now you're offering to help me with a party?" Arizona says calling her out.

"Arizona, I'm sorry. I just miss us being closer. I know we broke up, but we used to be friends. Now you've got this whole new life and I feel left out and I know it's my own fault. So yeah, I'm offering to help you decorate or whatever for your party. Just, uh, let me know, okay?" Callie rambles.

"Picking up Sofia tomorrow morning is very helpful. Thank you and I'll let you know if there's anything else I need help with, but Darren is supposed to be off tomorrow too. So we're going to plan out everything and get all the shopping done." Arizona explains.

"Okay, well I do have Saturday and Sunday off, so just let me know if there's anything I can do." Callie replies.

* * *

"The only thing that you can say to me that I want to hear is that Mark has arrived, so is that why you're here?" Arizona says when she opens the door to Darren the next morning.

"Uh, no. That's not why I'm here." He says following her in and closing the door behind him.

"Spill it pretty boy, I see the apology all over your face." Arizona says moving back to the kitchen to get her cup of coffee.

"Uncle D?" Sofia says entering the room, "Good morning!" The little girl exclaims jumping into his arms.

"At least someone in this house loves me." Darren says scooping her up and spinning around.

"I love you Uncle D and so does Moma." Sofia says laughing as they spin around.

"Be careful Darren, she just ate breakfast." Arizona says, then hears the knock on the door.

Darren moves over and opens the door as soon as he hears the knock.

"Mami!" Sofia says as the door opens to reveal a very confused Callie standing in the hall.

"Hi", Callie says glancing around the apartment from the door to see Arizona moving towards her.

"Hey, come in. Sorry, Darren just... Sofia are you going to be sick? Darren, bathroom, now!" Arizona orders.

As he rushes their daughter into the bathroom, Arizona rolls her eyes. "Callie, I'm so sorry. He's not used to being around kids and seems to make her puke at least once a week."

"I see. So he's over here a lot?" Callie asks concerned.

"We ride to work together a couple times a week and lately our days off have been synced up." Arizona explains.

"Mami, I got sick." Sofia says trudging back into the room.

"I know sweetheart. It's okay." Callie says as the little girl climbs up into her lap as she sits on the couch.

"I'll just get going, so you can, uh, enjoy your day off." Callie says as Darren comes down the hall without his shirt.

"She got me, all down the back of my shirt. I rinsed it out and hung it up, but it smells. Any chance you're doing laundry today Arizona?" He asks walking back into the room.

"Yes, I'll wash it for you Darren. But seriously, no more spinning in the morning." She says as he leans over so she can smell the vomit. "Ew, take a shower."

"Okay," he says turning back down the hall.

"At your place Darren, please!" Arizona says loudly.

"Oh, right. Nice seeing you Dr Torres. Sorry about the munchkin tossing her cookies." Darren says pausing to pat Sofia on the head and wish her a good day.

"Wow, he must workout, a lot." Callie says watching him go out the door.

"Yeah, it's ridiculous." Arizona admits, then turning back around to their daughter she asks, "Sofia are you feeling okay now or should you stay home today?"

"I want to go with Mami and see Zola today." Sofia informs her.

"I have an easy day today, so if she's still not feeling well, I can probably take off early." Callie informs her.

"Okay, I'm sorry about that. I tried to tell him not to spin so soon after she ate." Arizona apologizes again. "Wait, so you didn't get a tour yet, do you have time?"

Checking her watch, Callie shrugs. "I have time, Sofia do you want to show me your room?"

"Oh yes! Mami, come see my room. Uncle D got me a My Little Pony!" Sofia exclaims jumping down and grabbing Callie's hand to drag her down the hall.

Laughing Callie follows her daughter, then the door opens to reveal a huge My Little Pony mural on the wall complete with a little girl holding the reins. "That's me, Mami!" Sofia says walking over to the wall and touching the girl.

"Wow, that's uh, that's really awesome." Callie says sarcastically, looking back at Arizona.

"This is where I mention that Darren is an only child and is used to being indulged and may need to be stopped soon." Arizona says embarrassed.

"I have no words. Literally. No. Words." Callie says shaking her head. "And now I'm a little afraid to come back on Sunday, what could he possibly have planned. Oh and what on earth does his place look like?" Callie adds laughing.

* * *

"I swear that I didn't hear you correctly Darren. You couldn't possibly have said that Mark isn't coming this weekend." Arizona says loudly.

"We have an offer on the loft and he needs to stay and work out the deal." Darren explains.

"You are both not my friends any longer." Arizona says simply.

"Arizona, it'll be fine. I am almost as good at parties as Mark is." Darren proclaims.

"I'm calling Callie, she's the only person who can save us at this point. I can't believe this. Let me call her and get a list, then we're going to the store and you're buying everything on the list." Arizona says firmly.

"Um, hey Calliope. How's your day going?" Arizona asks when she answers.

"Oh, Arizona. Is everything okay?" Callie asks concerned.

"I, uh need some advice." Arizona begins, "Darren has dropped the ball on the party and I'm trying to figure out the food, and you're really good at party food, so help?"

"Wow, okay. So what were you thinking of offering?" Callie asks.

"I actually don't know. He was supposed to do the food and I was beverages. But now he got called into work and I'm stuck trying to figure it all out." She explains.

'Let me think about it and I'll call you back." Callie replies. "Oh wait, is there a budget?"

"No, he's paying for it. I don't care how much you spend. Just give me a list and I've got his card to go buy everything. But it has to be stuff that I can make." She adds.

"Seriously? How about if I come over and make it in your kitchen?" Callie offers, knowing Arizona's limitations and her schedule, there's no way this will work if she's making the food.

"You'd do that? Callie you're awesome. Thank you so much. I will owe you forever." Arizona says laughing.

"I'll email you a grocery list, you might have to go to that specialty grocery over on 13th and then maybe down to Pike's Place." Callie tells her.

"Okay, that's cool. I have all afternoon. I'm cleaning now. Thank you, Calliope!" She says hanging up.


	5. Chapter 5

Hanging up the phone, Callie laughs, she went from really not wanting to go to the party to now catering it in about 4 hours. At least this will help bring her and Arizona closer. Meredith was right, there has to be a reason neither of them are dating and now that she's got to meet Darren, she realizes that there's no way Arizona would date him. If she even dated men, but damn he's hot as hell, Callie has to admit.

* * *

"I'm seriously going to kick your ass." Arizona says when she sees Darren that night.

"But I've been saving lives," he replies as he sits down.

Rolling her eyes, she remarks, "I've called Mark twice and he hasn't answered. What the hell?"

"I told you, he's working out the deal on the loft. I swear, that's the only reason he's not here now." Darren replies.

"Callie is coming over tomorrow to cook for this party all day. So you should help me do the prep work." Arizona counters.

"Are you sure she can make all this stuff herself?" Darren asks reviewing the menu she put together for them.

"Callie is amazing, plus she's probably bribed an intern or two to help her and we're doing the prep work." Arizona adds.

* * *

"Callie thank you so much, just let me know if you need anything and I'll get it for you." Arizona says when Callie shows up the next morning to begin cooking for the party. "Oh and I made you a key, in case you need to leave and come back."

"Oh, thanks. Hey, did you get everything on the list?" Callie asks.

"Yes, there were a couple things I couldn't find, but I noted them on the list and what I got for substitutes." Arizona explains. "Oh and then I set up a playlist for you to cook to." She adds picking up the remote and hitting play.

Fix You Up by Tegan and Sara fills the room.

"Not bad, I can work with this Arizona. Now go to work. I've got this." Callie says looking over the list and bouncing to the music.

"Sofia stayed up late, so she's sleeping in. Darren has a late start today, so he can take her in to daycare if you need him to. He'll check in with you before he leaves for work. Otherwise, just, uh make yourself at home." Arizona says lightly, still a bit shocked at the turn of events. Then pausing at the door, she can't help but smile at the sight of Callie dancing around her kitchen. Not exactly what she expected to see today.

* * *

"Is Callie really at your place cooking for the party tomorrow?" April asks Arizona later that morning.

"Yes, Mark couldn't make it at the last minute and she offered to help. We bought everything and prepped stuff last night, but we both have to work today. How did you find out?" Arizona asks the redhead.

"She asked me to come by later to help. I'm actually off today, just stopped by to check on a couple of patients." April explains.

"Oh, really. Well that would be awesome of you to help. I'm going to try to leave early today since Alex is back and I feel terrible that Callie is stuck at my place cooking alone." Arizona replies.

"She's not alone. James is over there helping her." April replies.

"Who's James?" Arizona asks, suddenly freaked out that someone she doesn't know at all is at her place.

"James, the hot EMT. You've seen him, great biceps and firm glutes." April describes him carefully.

"Oh, right James." Arizona says relieved.

"What about James?" Darren asks walking up to the two doctors.

"James is helping Callie today." Arizona says watching Darren's face.

"Oh! Maybe I should go see if they need anything?" He says playfully.

"Wait, aren't you married?" April asks, then it dawns on her. "James is gay too?"

"April you're gaydar is as bad as Callie's", Arizona teases.

"Well at least now I don't have to worry about my party being too lesbian-centric." Darren replies sarcastically.

"Don't even start that. You're lucky this party isn't just a box of wine and spray cheese and crackers." Arizona says sarcastically, then adds, "I can't even imagine, what Mark is going to do to make this up to me."

"He has a few ideas." Darren replies, "we do may have a timeshare in Palm Springs that's reserved for early next April."

"You're not seriously trying to tease me with a trip to Dinah Shore are you?" Arizona asks.

"You are single and kind of hot, so yeah, I am." He replies playfully.

"Isn't Dinah Shore dead?" April asks confused.

"It's a lesbian spring break event in Palm Springs and has very little to do with Dinah Shore, except it was loosely tied to her golf tournament, I think." Arizona tries to explain to April. "I don't have the energy to be a cougar at Dinah Shore." She adds glaring at Darren.

"Honey, you aren't old enough to be a cougar yet." He replies, "and trust me, you'll find the energy if you go."

* * *

"Okay, so this went better than I expected. Where did you get all the kitchen stuff?" Callie asks when Arizona gets home.

"Oh I raided Darren's kitchen for things I thought you would need." The blonde says setting her stuff down and walking over to see what Callie's working on. "It smells wonderful in here."

"I'm working on the jalapeno artichoke dip and Darren and James are over in his kitchen filling the empanadas, I showed them how, so hopefully, they are doing it correctly." She remarks glancing at the door nervously, "Do you think we should check on them?"

"I'll go." Arizona says, "and if it's bad I'll come get you."

Watching the blonde move across the room, Callie can't help but notice how much better she moves with the new prosthetic, she's almost back to her normal gait.

"They're fine." Arizona says returning quickly, "but don't go over there. You don't want to see what they've done to that kitchen, good call putting them over there and not here in my kitchen!"

"Are they making them correctly with the little tine marks?" Callie asks nervously, wanting to go check for herself.

"Yes, here, I took a picture for you." Arizona says handing her the phone.

"Oh, those look good. Perfect actually. I'm kind of surprised." Callie says handing the phone back.

"Well, put a gay man in charge and he'll make everything perfect, it may take him forever, but he'll get it right." Arizona remarks.

"Wait, James isn't is he?" Callie asks.

"Your gaydar is terrible. Yes, James is gay." Arizona says laughing.

"Jeez, no wonder I'm single." Callie remarks, then realizes what she just said, "Wait, not that I was hitting on him here in your kitchen..." she scrambles to explain.

Laughing Arizona waves her off.

"He's fun and he offered to help. Of course, now I see why, he obviously has a crush on Darren," she says nodding towards the door.

"Darren's married," Arizona blurts out.

"Oh, so that's why his kitchen is so well stocked." Callie remarks and then flashes a dazzling smile at the blonde. Then thinking to herself, best news I've heard all day.

"Hey should I order a pizza for us?" Arizona says going to her pantry and pulling out a bottle of wine.

"You never have groceries, but you do have an excellent wine selection." Callie says taking the bottle from the blonde and looking at it. "Is this the wine we had that one weekend?"

"Yes, I may have bought a case of it as a moving into my own place gift to myself." Arizona confesses.

"Then let's open it and order some pizza." Callie says, then she looks up. "Um, where's Sofia?"

"Meredith offered to take her tonight, so we could get ready for the party." Arizona explains, "I sent you a text."

"Oh, well my phone is probably still on silent, so I didn't hear it." Callie says washing her hands and drying them before picking up her phone to check it.

"Everything okay?" Arizona finally asks after watching Callie stare at her phone for a few minutes.

"Oh, yeah. It's fine. I just, excuse me I need to return a phone call." Callie says distractedly.

"Okay, I'll open the wine and order the pizza?" Arizona asks as Callie walks over to the patio door and steps outside. Picking up her phone she turns to go out the door and see if the guys want pizza too.

* * *

"How's it going over there?" Darren asks playfully when Arizona walks into the apartment.

"Good, I think. We're going to order pizza, are you in?" She asks glancing from James to Darren.

"I need to head out, I have a date tonight." James says wiping his hands off and then tsking at Darren.

"Honey, if I had an open marriage, this would so be happening." Darren replies teasing the other man.

"What makes you think I'd get involved with a married man, open marriage or not?" James replies, sauntering towards the door, glancing back to make sure Darren is watching him leave.

Arizona covers her face with her hands and pretends not to watch the exchange. "I saw nothing." She teases.

"Don't even think I didn't Skype Mark so he could see us making empanadas together." Darren remarks as the door closes.

"You didn't?" Arizona exclaims.

"I did. He needs to wrap that deal up and get his ass to Seattle and I'm not even playing." Darren says wrapping his arms around the blonde.

Sighing, Arizona relaxes into the embrace.

"Where's Callie?" Darren asks suddenly.

"She's on the phone with someone in my apartment. I left to give her some privacy." Arizona says flatly.

"Hmm, well let's go find out who it is!" He says pulling her up off the stool and towards the door.

"Maybe I don't want to know." Arizona remarks.

"Honey, if she was dating someone, she wouldn't have spent her Saturday off cooking in your apartment for our party. Seriously, you're so dense sometimes." He remarks as they open the door and enter to see Callie pouring the wine into two glasses, the table set for two.

"Hey did you order, oh Darren, hi. Where's James, should I add another two place settings?" Callie asks awkwardly.

"James just left, he had a date. And I'm good. I've got to clean my kitchen, it's a bit of a mess." Darren says backing away towards the door.

"I'll be over in the morning to help you start cooking those empanadas." Callie calls out reminding him.

"They're amazing by the way. I had no idea surgeons could be such good cooks." Darren says playfully nudging Arizona.

"Funny, D but I can cook some things." She says defensively.

"You're really good at ordering pizza too." He says laughing.

"And buying wine. She's really good at buying wine." Callie adds.

"Okay, that's enough. Now you go clean your kitchen and we'll be over in the morning." Arizona says pushing him out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

After Darren closes the door, Arizona pauses a moment, "Is everything all right?" She asks crossing the room.

"Uh yeah, why? Oh the phone call, that was nothing. I mean it was something, just not uh, anything important." Callie stammers nervously. "Hey did you order the pizza?"

"Calliope, why are you so nervous?" Arizona asks crossing the room.

I, uh, I just thought that it would be nice to sit and eat and talk. We, uh, don't get the chance to talk much." She explains, trying to calm her nerves, being this close to the blonde makes her nervous.

The knock at the door causes Arizona to stop walking towards her. Grimacing, the blonde turns to answer the door.

Taking money out of her pocket, she pays for the pizza and then turns back around to face Callie, smiling she says, "Let's eat."

* * *

"No chance, you cooked all day. Take the wine and go sit on the couch. I'll clean this up and be in there in a few minutes." Arizona says shooing the brunette away from the table.

"Okay, but I probably should head home soon." Callie says yawning.

"You should stay here and help me finish this bottle of wine and go home tomorrow, so find something for us to watch." Arizona suggests.

"You make a good point," Callie says laughing and begins flipping the channels.

In the kitchen, Arizona glances over at her phone and sees a text message from Darren asking if Callie is still there. Carefully the blonde dries her hands and texts him back. "Yes, I asked her to stay over ... in the guest room."

"Sure you did. Good night xoxo", he replies.

Setting the phone back down and plugging it into the charger, Arizona turns around and grabs her glass of wine and heads into the living room.

"Find anything good?", she asks sitting on the other end of the couch.

"That depends on your definition of good." Callie counters, "There's a three hour series of Bizarre Foods America featuring foods from State Fairs; Parks & Rec marathon, America Ninja Warrior featuring women gymnasts, or Alien II."

"Oh wow, maybe we should just watch something on Netflix," Arizona says scooting closer to the brunette to look at the remote. "Darren set this up, I'm not sure which button..."

"Wait, your TV is like mine. It's this button." Callie says confidently pointing the remote at the TV and pressing the button.

Suddenly the screen changes and Callie selects the Netflix logo and as it loads, Arizona starts to wonder what she watched last night, all she remember is that she turned it off because it was too depressing.

Looking at the screen Callie can't help but notice that Arizona most recently watched the movie 'Anatomy of a Love Seen" since it's up there asking if she wants to continue watching it. Glancing over at the blonde, she asks, "Doesn't look like you watched much of that movie do you want to watch it together?".

Not really, let's watch something else, that one is really slow and I fell asleep." She replies carefully, not wanting to admit that she couldn't watch it because it was too depressing to watch a relationship fall apart.

"Okay, then I've just started watching the 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt', so let's watch a few episodes, I think you'll like it." Callie suggests.

Nodding, Arizona looks around and realizes that she's now beside Callie on the couch, but not wanting to be weird and move back down to the other end of the couch, she tries to get comfortable without getting too close to her ex.

Callie leans forward and tops off both their wine glasses and glances at the blonde. "Are you sure that you're comfortable?"

Arizona nods and reaches for the wine glass to take a sip, "I'm fine Cal." She says.

Setting her own wine glass down, Callie says, "Hand me that pillow then if you're not using it."

The blonde leans over and grabs the pillow off the end of the couch and hands it to Callie.

Tucking the pillow in beside her, Callie reaches over and pats the pillow, "Come on Arizona get more comfortable. I won't bite, I promise."

Laughing at her self-consciousness, Arizona glances over at Callie and then settles in beside her.

Watching Arizona and hearing her laughing, makes Callie's heart flutter. The blonde's laughter always does that to her, even now, she can hear her laugh down the hall or in a meeting and still her body reacts to it the same way.

Barely able to keep from running her fingers through the blonde locks that are right there within reach, Callie decides to close her eyes for a moment to regain her composure.

"Callie? Callie, I can hear that little snore thing that you do when your head's at a weird angle." Arizona says struggling to sit up and not wake up the brunette.

Taking a moment to admire her beautiful ex as she sleeps on the couch, Arizona shuts off the TV, she was practically asleep herself. Stretching, she stands up carefully and takes the wine glasses into the kitchen and rinses them out. Then she goes back in to Callie and tries to wake her gently. Callie just re-positions herself on the couch and stretches out, so Arizona goes into her room and changes clothes. Then she grabs another set of pajamas and heads back into the living room.

"Callie? Wake up, you should go to bed. You don't have to sleep on the couch." Arizona says laying the pjs on the table in front of her. Callie stirs and opens an eye and looks at the blonde and nods, so Arizona heads back into her room and brushes her teeth, removes her leg and climbs into bed.

* * *

"What time is it?" Callie asks waking up the next morning.

"Early, just go back to sleep." Arizona replies barely awake.

"Oh," Callie replies, then opens her eyes and looks around and realizes that she's in Arizona's bed and the blonde is curled up on her chest still asleep. "Um, Arizona?" She says softly.

"Too early, Cal." She mumbles and then moves her hands across the Latina's chest and suddenly she wakes up.

"Oh god!" She says sitting up. "Why are you in here?"

"I don't know, I uh, woke up on the couch and then must of come in here to go to bed." Callie says trying to explain.

"Okay, well that make sense. We, uh drank a little too much wine. I, er, couldn't wake you up, so I left you on the couch." Arizona explains. "But nothing happened, we just slept. And it's not a big deal, right? It's not like we haven't done this before."

"Right." Callie says, already missing the contact from Arizona's body laying on top of hers. "Well, now that we're up early, I should, uh, run home and get ready."

"Have some coffee first, don't just rush out. Then it's weird, and it shouldn't be weird. I mean, we're not strangers. We have a child together, it's not a big deal for us to sleep in the same bed." Arizona rambles as she gets out of bed and then pauses to find her crutches. "Get dressed, I'll make coffee." She says smiling at Callie sitting in her bed.

Nodding Callie waits for the blonde to leave the room before taking a huge breath and exhaling it slowly. Slipping out of bed, she realizes that she's just in her underwear and a pajama top. Going over to the door, she listens a moment for the blonde and hears her running water at the sink, so she darts out to the couch to get her pants and top.

Dressed again, she walks out into the living room and sets down to put her shoes on.

"Coffee is ready." Arizona says as she sets a cup of black coffee on the counter for Callie and then begins fixing her own cup.

"Thank you," Callie says taking a sip and watching Arizona fix her coffee, she still can't help but cringe when she sees how much sugar the blonde puts in her coffee.

"Okay, so I'll be back around 10, Darren will need to pull the empandas out at 8 and let the dough warm up to room temperature before we can bake them. You will just need to set the jalapeno artichoke dip out to warm up before you bake it and we'll assemble the trays when I get back." Callie reminds her.

"Thank you, for yesterday and last night. It was nice." Arizona says crossing back over to stand in front of her.

"I probably shouldn't admit this, but it was nice waking up with you." She adds.

"It was nice waking up with you too, for a moment it was...Oh, nevermind. Let's not go there. Let's just leave it at, it was nice and thank you for inviting me over." Callie says simply.

Smiling into her coffee, Arizona realizes that they both have actually enjoyed spending the time together.


	7. Chapter 7

Back at the house, Callie steps out of the shower and sees the missed call. It's Sunday, why would they call her on a Sunday, curious, but not wanting to deal with it today, she ignores it and the voice mail.

Staring into her closet trying to decide what to wear to the party, she can't stop wondering about the voicemail. Finally she walks over to her phone and picks it up and plays the voicemail.

"Dr Torres, please call us today for an update on your pending request."

Shaking her head and even more annoyed by the message, Callie sits down on the bed. Should she call or just ignore it and deal with it tomorrow?

Deep in thought, she walks over to her closet and picks out a light blue sundress and her tan sandals and puts them on, then picks up the phone and dials the number.

"Okay, so what's the next step?" She asks, listening to the response, she sits down on the couch.

"Hmm, can I let you know?" She asks, then receiving a reply she disconnects the call and sets the phone down.

Putting her head in her hands, she's so confused. This decision was so much easier when she was alone, but now she's got thoughts of Arizona messing up her head and she wants to talk to her, but she can't because they're not together and this was something Callie was doing on her own, but now she wants to talk to her ex, but if she talks to her, then it'll be like she's asking her to help her, which she's not, but wouldn't be opposed to it. As this endless loop of thought tortures the brunette her phone rings, looking down she sees it's the blonde in question.

"Hey, I was just getting ready to leave. How is it going?" Callie says answering the phone.

"Everything is going great. I was just wondering when you were coming back?" Arizona replies.

"Sorry, I'm running a little late, but I'll be there soon." Callie responds.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, I mean after last night and everything." The blonde stammers a bit, then adds, "Calliope, I don't want things to be awkward between us today. I liked where we were yesterday and I hope we can be like that again today."

"Okay, I liked where we were yesterday too. But I'm still a bit flustered about this morning. It was confusing, because it wasn't uncomfortable, I mean it was, but it wasn't... Do you know what I mean?" The brunette asks quickly.

Sighing into the phone, Arizona replies, "I know, I know exactly what you mean. Maybe after the party we can talk?" She suggests.

"Okay, that's a good idea." Callie agrees. Then going back into her room, she grabs a bag and stuffs some clothes in it, so she can change clothes and help clean up after the party, she tells herself.

* * *

"The interns came early and have really put a dent in the empanadas," Arizona informs the brunette when she arrives. "But I put Jo and Stephanie in the kitchen making the back up fruit and veggie trays. I only got half of them done, before they started showing up. Seriously, who shows up an hour and a half early for a party and then expects to eat?"

"Okay, good call." She says nodding at the two interns, "let me go over to Darren's and see if I can get him to hold off on putting out any more empanadas." Callie says handing Arizona her bag. "I brought a change of clothes so I can help clean up." She adds, when Arizona looks at the overnight bag.

"Of course, oh and you look great by the way." Arizona adds, her blue eyes sparkling with her smile.

The combination of the two never fail to make Callie's heart flutter, causing her to flash her own megawatt smile.

Walking into Darren's apartment, Callie hesitates and glances around the room looking for him. Not spotting him, she just goes into the kitchen and checks the stove, then the fridge to see how many trays are left. Closing the refrigerator door, she jumps, Darren is now standing there in front of her.

"May I help you?" He asks before realizing who it is, "Oh, Callie! Wow, you look fantastic, that shade of blue is amazing on you."

"Wait, you're gay too?" She asks, suddenly realizing that not many straight men would compliment her that way.

"Yes, have you met Mark?" He asks, pulling another man over to meet her.

"Mark, this is Calliope Torres, she made all of the food for the party that you invited all of these people too." Darren says teasing his husband.

"Calliope!" Mark gushes at her and kisses her cheeks. "These empanadas are fantastic! We must cook together soon, I want to know your secrets."

"Oh, well okay. My kitchen secrets I hope, because the other ones are off limits." She says laughing awkwardly.

"Hmm, we'll see about that." He says taking her arm in his, "You and I are going to be good friends. I'm an amazing friend, by the way." He says leading her across the room.

* * *

Walking back into Arizona's apartment, Callie spots the blonde talking with a tall slender brown haired woman over by the patio door, so she stops at the kitchen counter to check on Stephanie and Jo.

"These are the last trays, there's no more room in her fridge." Jo exclaims wrapping the last tray and carefully stacking it on top of the others and closing the door.

"I'm sure Arizona appreciates your help, where is she, by the way." Callie asks.

"She's right over there talking to Dr Strahmer, the new plastic surgeon." Wilson replies.

"Oh right, how did I miss her?" Callie says pretending to see the blonde for the first time.

Arizona looks up and then motions Callie over, "Calliope Torres meet Dr Cynthia Strahmer." Arizona says introducing them. "Callie, Cynthia is new to Seattle, she moved here from Atlanta. She's working with the VA on reconstructive surgery and scar reduction."

"Oh wow, I am working with vets too. I'm an ortho and I work closely with neuro on a robotic limb project." Callie begins to explain.

"I've read your papers. It's quite fascinating and it's part of what attracted me to your hospital." Cynthia explains.

"Oh really?" Callie replies. "What else attracted you to our hospital?"

"I spent two years at a clinic in Africa and when I got back to the states, I took a job with the CDC, then I found about your opening and I had to work here. I mean, I had just spent two years working in Malawi at her clinic and now I'm working at her hospital with her? Have you been to her clinic?" Cynthia asks the brunette.

"Uh, no actually. I haven't made it out there yet." Callie replies taken aback by the woman's enthusiastic response to meeting Arizona.

"It's remarkable. Her vision was so on target. The clinic is a model, I'm not kidding. NGO's are now using the Malawi clinic as a model for medical services." Cynthia exclaims.

"Wow, I, uh, didn't know that." Callie replies, then glances around to see where the blonde went.

Just then Arizona appears with a glass of white wine and hands it to Callie. "I wanted you to try this Vigonier."

"Thanks," Callie says taking a sip. "Arizona, this is lovely. What is it?" She asks.

"Its a 2011 Vigonier from Sainte Michelle," she replies. Then looking over at Cynthia, she says, "Cynthia, would you like some wine?"

"No, I actually don't drink. But thank you." She says looking at her watch and excuses herself.

"Was that her way of saying she doesn't drink or doesn't drink this early?" Arizona asks watching her walk away.

"Either way, I don't trust her. How do you not drink wine at party on your day off?" Callie says taking another sip and smiling at Arizona.

"Good point," the blonde replies sipping her own wine. "She probably should have some wine, she was a bit intense."

"Just a bit." Callie says laughing, then asks, "How is the Malawi clinic going? You don't talk about it, at least not with me."

Cocking her head to consider the question and where it's coming from, Arizona frowns a bit, then replies, "It's going very well. I actually need to talk to you about it, because I need to go out there for two months."

"Two months? What for?" Callie asks.

"Let's talk about this later. We should be mixing and mingling, it's a party." Arizona says taking her hand and leading her back into the room.


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh my god, I thought they would never leave." Mark says to Darren as the last person files out of the apartment.

"Hey you invited them." He teases and pulls Mark down beside him on the couch. Picking up his phone, he texts Arizona, "Party over?"

"Yes. U?" she texts back.

"All clear." He replies.

"Everyone is gone." Arizona says flopping onto the couch beside Callie.

"If you don't mind, then I'm going to change clothes before we start to clean up." Callie says leaning forward.

"Callie, wait." Arizona says placing her hand on her arm.

Flinching at the heat from the blonde's hand. Callie turns slowly to face her.

"I was going to apologize for roping you into this party, but I actually enjoyed having you here." Arizona begins.

Smiling, Callie just nods, so the blonde continues.

"I don't think I realized how much I missed being around you until this weekend." Arizona says turning to face the brunette. "Waking up with you this morning, kind of woke me up in several ways."

"Arizona, stop." Callie says turning her face away.

"Oh god, I'm making a fool of myself." The blonde says standing up.

Turning back around, Callie says, "No, no you're not. It's just, there's something that I should tell you, before you say anything else." The brunette replies patting the couch beside her.

"Oh, okay." Arizona says hesitantly sitting down.

"I put the house on the market." Callie blurts out, then waits for the blonde's response.

"Seriously?" Arizona asks surprised.

"And there's an offer on it, I just need to meet with the Realtor and decide what to do."

Tearing up, Arizona just nods and sits back down. "I guess, I shouldn't be surprised." She says sadly.

"It's just I can't move on, as long as I stay in that house, because it's our house, you're everywhere there." Callie says trying to explain.

"I know, I feel the same way, which is why it's so hard for me to be at the house." Arizona confesses.

"But then it's not much better here, I fell asleep on your couch and woke up and went right to where you were, I-I'm still drawn to you." Callie admits.

"Callie, today after you went home, I kept thinking about you and couldn't wait for you to come back. Then when you got here, I saw your bag and hoped that you would stay the night again. Will you?" Arizona asks.

"What does that mean?" Callie asks, "What are you asking?"

"I miss you Calliope and I ever since I moved into this place, you're the only person that I wanted to see it. Waking up with you this morning was the happiest that I've been in a long time." She confesses, closing her eyes and taking a deep breathe. "I'm asking you to stay the night with me and see what happens."

Leaning forward, Callie presses her lips against the blonde's softly.

Slowly, Arizona opens her eyes unable to believe that Callie is kissing her. Moaning slightly, she adjusts her position on the couch and presses herself against the brunette deepening the kiss.

"Sell the house and move in here." Arizona says breathlessly.

"Wait, what?" Callie says pulling away. "Did you just ask me to move in with you?"

"Um, I did." Arizona says reaching out to cup Callie's chin. "I'm still in love with you Calliope. I know that I have made mistakes and lost my way, but the past year all I can think about is being with you again."

Stunned Callie pulls away from the blonde, "I don't know."

Knocking on the front door interrupts the two women, Arizona stands up to go answer it, when it suddenly opens.

"Hey we're thinking of going out for..." Darren says opening the door and seeing the two women's body language, he realizes that he's interrupted something. "Nevermind." He says closing the door.

The two women turn back to look at each other. Callie is nervously wringing her hands.

"Just please think about it." Arizona replies walking over to her. "Even if it's just until you figure out what you want to do."

"Arizona, the whole reason that I volunteered to help you with the party was because I was jealous of your relationship with Darren." Callie confesses. "I saw you with him and you were so relaxed and I hadn't seen that part of you in a long time. It made me realize how much I miss you."

"So if we both miss each other, why are we not spending time together?" Arizona asks simply.

"It's not that simple. We're not together any more." Callie reminds her.

"Things have changed Callie. We've changed. Who knows if the reasons that we didn't work before are even valid now?" Arizona replies. "I know that I'm not the same person that you broke up with months ago."

"I know that. But I'm not the same person either." Callie says sitting back down on the couch.

Following Callie to the couch, Arizona sits down beside her, "So even after all of the changes over the past year, we're both still alone because we want to be together?"

Reaching out for the blonde's hand, Callie squeezes it and sighs, "I think that sums it up." She says resting her head on the blonde's shoulder.

"Then how can this be a bad thing?" Arizona says looking down at the brunette, then putting her arm around her, they both fall back on to the couch.

"Because breaking up with you really sucks." Callie says softly.

Turning to kiss her, Arizona replies, "then let's make sure we don't this time."

* * *

"When do you go back to the clinic?" Callie asks as they clean up the kitchen together.

"I haven't bought my ticket yet, but I leave next month and I'll be gone for two months. Wait, this makes perfect since for you to move in here. Just put your stuff in storage and stay here, it will be less disruptive for Sofia." Arizona replies, happy to offer a valid argument.

Silently, Callie considers it. It does make sense, if the contract goes through on the house, she won't have much time to find a place to live. And she's not sure where she wants to live. Not to mention, that if Arizona is gone, then it's not exactly like they are living together.

"I think we need to talk about this and figure out how it would work. I'm not opposed to it, but I want us to make sure that we're on the same page if we do it." Callie explains turning to the blonde and facing her.

Nodding, Arizona looks her in the eye, then leans in and kisses her. Feeling Callie's response, the blonde pulls her close and pins her against the counter.

Pulling away, Callie says, "Wait..."

"No, there's no reason to wait any longer." Arizona replies, deepening the kiss.

Pulling away, Callie looks at her with soft brown eyes, "Let's get more comfortable."

Taking her hand, Arizona leads her into her bedroom and cups her face, "I love you Calliope." She says softly before kissing her again, "let me show you."

Pushing the brunette down on the bed, Arizona climbs on top of her, rips of her own t-shirt before lifting up Callie's and kissing her skin.

Gasping as her lips touch her skin, Callie reaches up and unfastens Arizona's bra, removes it and cups her breasts tenderly. "I've really missed you." She says thickly.

"Oh god, Callie you have no idea." Arizona moans into her skin as she kisses her and slips her shirt over her head.

* * *

 **A/N: remember this one is rated T, but it's still more sex than we get on the show and you can imagine it from here without being distracted by my oddly written sex scenes...**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Ugh, can't believe it took me this long to write this, but your reward for waiting is a nice long chapter!**_

* * *

"Roommates with benefits?" Arizona teases as they move the last of the boxes into the condo. Callie closed on the house and put most of her stuff into storage, but she went ahead and moved into Arizona's guest room.

"Roommate?" Callie asks raising her eyebrow and pulling the blonde to her. "Somehow I don't think this is a roommate situation..." she replies kissing the blonde and moving her hands under her shirt.

"Housemate?" Arizona teases again, deepening the kiss and moving her hands up under Callie's shirt to remove it.

Pulling away from the blonde, Callie rips her shirt off and glares at her. "It's girlfriend or I'm showering alone," she says stripping her remaining clothes off as she heads to the bathroom.

Laughing Arizona shakes her head, begins stripping her own clothes off and following. "Those terms are acceptable," she calls out.

* * *

"Thank you guys for watching Sofia," Callie says when Mark and Darren open the door to her. "Was she good for you?"

"She's an angel for Uncle Mark." Mark says glaring over at Darren.

"What, we were having fun?" Darren says a little guiltily.

"Darren, what did you let her do?" Callie asks concerned.

"They walked down to the park today and when I got there they were covered in mud." Mark explains.

"There was a huge mud puddle, it was a blast. Mark, show her the pictures." Darren replies.

Pulling out his phone, Mark hands it over to Callie and she smiles broadly then shakes her head. "So now I can't take her to the park without her wanting to play in the puddle, it rains all the time Darren! Thanks." Callie says handing the phone back, but not before asking Mark to send her the pictures.

Walking back into the condo with Sofia dressed in a men's t-shirt, Callie calls out to Arizona. "You're not going to believe what Uncle Darren and Sofia did today."

Entering the room, Arizona smiles. "Played in a mud puddle?" She asks, then shows Callie the photos on the iPad.

"Wait, I just asked him to send them to me." Callie says confused setting Sofia down on the couch beside her.

"Darren sent these earlier, I just opened them when you went to get her." Arizona explains. Then to her daughter she asks, "Did you have fun with Uncle Darren today, Sof?"

Sofia nods, then puts her head down into Callie's lap and yawns.

"Okay, I'll put her back down for the rest of her nap." Callie says moving to pick up their daughter.

"Wait..." Arizona says putting the tablet down and turning to Callie. "This is good, I like having you both here." She says reaching up and tucking a stray curl behind Callie's ear.

Leaning over Callie gives the blonde a light kiss. "Yeah, I like us all being here together." She says breathlessly.

"Mami, you're squishing me." Sofia says sleepily.

"Okay, Mija. I'll put you to bed then." Callie says pulling back from Arizona's lips.

"I'll take her." Arizona says reaching over to take the sleepy girl off Callie's lap. "Oh god, she's getting so big." Arizona says struggling to pull her over.

Laughing Callie helps and pulls Sofia up, while Arizona stands and then takes her. "I'll be right back." She says winking at the brunette on the couch.

Callie goes into the kitchen and pours two glasses of wine and returns to the couch just as Arizona returns from laying Sofia down for the rest of her nap.

"It's kind of early for wine, isn't it?" Arizona teases her.

"I want to toast this, whatever it is." Callie explains handing her a glass of wine.

Taking the glass, Arizona leans in and kisses the brunette. "This is good. Whatever it is, it's good." She says flashing her sparkling blue eyes and dimply smile.

* * *

"Define it?" Callie repeats back to Meredith. "Well, it's amazing. We're us, but yet we're not the old us. We're the new us. And the new us is really good." She tries to explain.

Skeptical, Meredith raises an eyebrow, "Really?" she asks.

"Mer, you have no idea how great this is. Everything is different this time. I mean, I know that she's leaving for Africa soon, but I am excited for her and can't wait for her to come back." Callie explains further.

"You're not worried about her going to Africa?" Meredith asks.

"I'm worried every time one of us gets on a plane, but the odds of another plane crashing with her on it is unlikely." Callie replies, then glances around the desk and knocks on wood. "No reason to tempt fate." She adds.

Shaking her head, Meredith laughs softly and says, "I'm happy for you Cal, and it's good to see you happy again."

"So happy." Callie says walking away.

* * *

"I leave in two weeks." Arizona replies when Darren asks her as they eat lunch in the cafeteria.

"Okay, just checking because now that your baby mama has moved in, it's been domestic city over there and I wasn't sure that you were still going to Africa," he replies.

Rolling her eyes, she sighs, "Don't be an ass. It's only been a couple of weeks since she moved in." Arizona counters.

"You're joking right? She's been living with you for over a month." Darren complains.

"Darren, ever since Mark moved here we haven't even had our game night, so don't blame Callie." Arizona points out.

"Maybe we need to get Mark and Callie to hang out so we can get a day off together?" Darren suggests.

"Ooh, I'll see what I can do to make that happen." Arizona says smiling.

Checking his pager, "Back to the pit for me," he says as he grabs a carrot off her plate.

"How's your day going?" Callie asks sitting down beside her and grabbing a carrot off her plate.

"Better now," Arizona says flashing a smile that lights up her blue eyes.

Reaching over and squeezing the blonde's knee, Callie flashes a smile of her own. "I have an idea for this weekend," she says leaning in to the blonde and whispering, "Meredith is going to take Sofia."

Delight spreads across the blonde's face and she wiggles her eyebrows, "Sounds good so far..." she teases.

"Oh, this will be amazing, just finish up on Friday by 3 pm," Callie replies, inching her hand towards the blonde's center, teasing her.

Jumping slightly, Arizona squirms a bit and smiles even brighter, "Are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"No, and I'm going to pack for both us. You just need to be ready to go at 3 pm on Friday." Callie says raising her eyebrows and pulling her hand back slowly.

* * *

Bouncing up to Darren later, Arizona is about to burst. "Hey!" she says excitedly.

"What is this about?" He asks waving his hand over her.

"Callie's planned a romantic getaway for us this weekend." She says softly to him.

"Ah, where are you going?" He asks.

"She won't tell me. And she's packing for both of us and picking me up here on Friday afternoon." Arizona says hopping up on the desk.

"Well that sounds amazing." He replies. "Mark used to do things like that for me."

"Why don't you do them for him?" Arizona asks.

"Oh, I don't know." He replies thoughtfully.

"Take him to a winery this weekend, Saint Michelle is very good." Arizona says reaching for her phone. "Oh and they have concerts, let's see who's playing there this weekend." She says excitedly, then her face falls, "Oh crap, it's Sheryl Crow."

"Okay, but we're not big fans of Sheryl Crow," Darren says looking over her shoulder. "Wait, do you think that is where Callie's taking you for the weekend?"

"Probably," Arizona admits, "damn, I shouldn't have known not to do that, I've ruined her surprise."

"Well, you can still act surprised." Darren reminds her.

"Thanks," she says still bummed out that she's accidentally figured out Callie's surprise.

* * *

"Darren, did you page ortho for a consult?" Callie asks as she approaches the desk in the ER the next day.

"Oh, yeah. I've got a 32 year old bike messenger who was hit by a car, he's a mess of broken bones." Darren replies handing her the chart.

Smiling she grabs the chart and says, "Yay, just what I need today!"

Shaking his head he follows her into the trauma room.

"Jerrod Truman?" Callie asks as she enters the room, "I'm Dr Torres and you, you're a going to need surgery on this shoulder." She says moving in to look at the x-rays hanging on the wall. "Maybe two surgeries, but don't worry. I'm amazing and you'll be back on your bike in no time. Dr Paulson, would you administer another 50 mg of demerol and I'll go get the OR ready." Callie says handing him back the chart.

* * *

Callie is scrubbing for surgery when Darren walks in and joins her, "Hey are you scrubbing in with me?" she asks surprised.

"Kepner has the ER under control, so I decided to see the famous Dr Torres work her magic." He says flashing her a smile.

"Hmm, then you are in for a show." She says humming as she finishes scrubbing and heads into the OR.

In the OR, Callie and Darren stand in front of the light board and take a last look at the Xray.

"Dr Paulson, the clavicle fracture is near the scapula so we're going to attach a plate here with screws here and here." Callie explains before they head into the OR.

Nodding, Darren glances at the Latina and smiles.

Catching his smile, Callie looks confused. "What?" She asks him.

"Nothing," he says, "I'm just happy to finally get in the OR with you. Let's do this." He adds, moving to the door.

"Okay," Callie replies following him, "Let's do this." She repeats.

* * *

Walking past the OR board, Arizona is surprised to see Callie and Darren on the board together, so she steps into the gallery to watch for a few minutes.

"Hold it still Dr Paulsen," Callie says sharply.

"I've got it," he replies. Then glancing up he sees Arizona in the gallery, so he winks at her.

Glancing up, Callie follows his eye and can't help but smile when she sees the blonde watching from above.

"Will the patient feel this plate? I mean it's really close to the bone here." Darren asks her.

"He may and if it's a problem, then we'll remove it. He doesn't have very much body fat, so I'll probably remove this plate once his bone is healed." Callie explains.

"I want to surprise Mark this weekend, do you have any ideas where we could go?" Darren asks Callie as they finish up the surgery.

"Arizona and I always enjoyed going to wineries, there are several nearby." Callie offers. "Chateau Sainte Michelle is our favorite, but they are booked out for months, so for a last minute trip I'd suggest you just do the Seattle Urban Winery tour. I think it's at Pike's Place this weekend." Callie suggests.

"Hmm, that sounds interesting, I didn't realize there were Urban Wineries in Seattle." Darren says looking over at the Latina's closing stitches.

"Oh yeah, there are about 20 of them. I went on the tour several months ago." Callie replies.

"Arizona didn't mention that earlier when we were talking." Darren replies.

Pausing, Callie exhales sharply and glancing up at the other doctor, "Maybe she hasn't taken the tour, Dr Paulsen." Callie says finishing the last stitch then turning abruptly to leave the OR.

Suddenly Darren understands what just happened. "Callie, wait..." he says moving around the table to follow her out of room.

"Dr Torres..." he repeats as he enters the room.

"Dr Paulsen, I don't know you very well, so I'm going to assume that you didn't intend to make that point." Callie says angrily as she takes off her gown and gloves.

"Dr... Callie, no I did not. Look, you and Arizona have been dating almost since I moved here, so I just forgot that you were broke up." He explains.

Glaring at him, Callie leaves the room and runs right into Arizona waiting in the hallway.

"Hey," the blonde says reaching out to stop the brunette from blowing past her.

"Oh, hi." Callie says stopping suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Arizona asks, noticing that Callie was upset.

Not buying it, Arizona tilts her head and asks again, "Calliope, what happened?"

"Just a misunderstanding, everything is fine." She says glancing back at the door to see Darren walk out.

Following her brown eyes, Arizona watches Darren slip wordlessly down the hall and makes a mental note to find out what happened.

"Hmm, okay." She says slowly, "so do you have time to grab coffee?"

"Not just yet, but I'll meet you by the coffee cart in 15?" Callie replies smiling at the blonde and reaching out to squeeze her hand lightly.

* * *

Sitting on the bench with two coffees, Arizona anxiously waits for Callie to get there. The blonde can't help but wonder what happened between Darren and Callie in the OR today.

"Hey," Callie says sitting down suddenly beside her and leaning over and kissing her lightly.

Raising an eyebrow playfully, Arizona asks, "What's going on with you and Darren?"

"Don't worry about it." Callie says picking up the coffee and taking a big drink of it.

"Calliope, something happened between you. I saw the looks you gave each other leaving the OR." Arizona asks firmly.

"We had a misunderstanding. It's nothing for you to be concerned about. Now, let's talk about our trip tomorrow." Callie replies deftly changing the subject.

"I haven't worked an overnight shift in months." Arizona admits taking a sip of her coffee. "And I still think you had something to do with this," she exclaims, then adds, "especially since you won't tell me where we're going and you're packing for me."

"Hmm, interesting theory." Callie says smirking and finishing her coffee. Then standing up to leave she adds, "I've got to check on my patient, thanks for the coffee."

Standing up to kiss the brunette goodbye, Arizona pulls her in close. "I'm going to miss you tonight," she says thickly.

Shivering happily, Callie replies, "Hold that thought, we have the whole weekend ahead of us."


	10. Chapter 10

"Okay, so where are we going?" Arizona asks Callie the next afternoon as she climbs into the car.

"You'll see." Callie replies leaning over to kiss her lightly on the cheek.

Turning her head, Arizona reaches up and pulls the brunette back for a kiss on the lips.

A horn honks and Callie squeals before putting the car in gear and pulling away from the door.

"How far is the drive? I haven't eaten since early this afternoon and I may need a snack." Arizona says still trying to get information on the trip.

"There's a cooler behind my seat, just grab whatever you want." Callie replies flashing a big smile.

"How long is the drive?" Arizona asks after she gets the cooler open and starts pulling sacks out.

"Oh, hand me a sparkling water." Callie says as they pull up to a stop light. Then glancing over at the blonde twisted around to the back seat, she licks her lips and smiles even bigger.

Handing her the water, Arizona glances up and notices her smile. "Like what you see Torres?" She asks playfully.

"Definitely," Callie says leaning over to kiss her quickly before the light changes.

"Hands on the wheel!" Arizona says pushing her away as the car behind them honks. "And don't think that I didn't notice that you didn't answer my question," she adds popping an apple slice into her mouth.

Smiling, Callie reaches over and caresses the blonde's leg. "Lay back and relax, I'll let you know when we get close."

Yawning, Arizona lays the seat back. She usually isn't able to sleep in a car, but the overnight shift coupled with a long surgery this morning, she decides to try. Besides, she definitely doesn't want to be sleepy later.

Glancing over at the blonde relaxing beside her, Callie relaxes a little bit. She was worried that the drive would be too long after Arizona's long night and day. Besides, she has a beautiful cabin rented for the weekend in the Cascades. She had it stocked with food and wine, so they could just spend the weekend relaxing together.

* * *

Pulling over at the first opportunity, Callie softly wakes Arizona up. "Baby, wake up," she coos into her ear.

A large smile spreads across her face as she wakes to Callie's voice; then slightly confused by the seatbelt restricting her, Arizona glances around the car, "Where are we?" she asks.

"Almost there." Callie says softly kissing her.

Pulling the brunette closer, Arizona deepens the kiss. "Mmm, I hope we're close. I can't wait for this weekend to begin." She says playfully.

Moving back to her seat, Callie watches the blonde put her seat back up and refasten her seatbelt. "Enjoy the view, we're about 20 minutes out."

Looking right at the brunette, Arizona says, "I'm definitely enjoying the view."

Laughing at the blonde, Callie checks the road and then pulls back out.

"Wait, are we in the Cascades?" Arizona asks after a few minutes of driving.

"Yes, I rented a cabin for the weekend." Callie replies.

"A cabin with plumbing I hope?" the blonde asks remembering the Valentine weekend at Derek's trailer.

"Plumbing, hot tub, wifi... don't worry, I know you hate camping." Callie teases.

* * *

Pulling up to the lodge, Callie parks the car and runs in to register and get the keys. Arizona takes a moment to get out and stretch a bit. It's really a beautiful area she thinks.

"Okay, all set. Let's go." Callie says walking back out to the car.

"The Lodge is gorgeous, is there a restaurant here too?" Arizona asks as they get back into the car.

"Yes, there is. But we have food at the cabin. Oh and wine. And did I mention the hot tub?" Callie says flashing another devilish smile.

"You may have mentioned that once or twice. Did you bring suits?" Arizona asks.

"It's our private hot tub, why do we need suits?" Callie asks before backing up the car.

"Oh, good point." Arizona replies as she reaches over and takes Callie's hand and holds it up to her mouth to kiss it.

"Thank you." She says, "Thank you for this beautiful weekend."

"Oh you just wait," Callie says playfully biting her lip.

* * *

Standing in front of the floor to ceiling windows looking out over the trees, Arizona sighs. "Calliope, this is gorgeous!"

Crossing the room and handing the blonde a glass of wine, "Yes you are," she says thickly as she stands right behind her and wraps an arm around the smaller woman pulling her close.

Turning around into the embrace, Arizona sets her wine down on the window sill, then takes Callie's glass and sets it down too. "Mmm," she moans as she kisses the brunette and wraps her hands around her pulling her closer.

"Maybe we should try out the hot tub first to relax after the long drive. Then I'll fix dinner." Callie suggests.

Reaching up under Callie's shirt, Arizona unclasps her bra and pulls her shirt off over her head. Laughing Callie does the same to the blonde and then the both struggle out of their jeans and remaining clothes before grabbing the wine and moving out to the hot tub.

Just as they slip into the hot tub, Arizona realizes they don't have towels. "Okay, I think we just failed the romantic hot tub maneuver," she exclaims. "We forgot towels."

"Oh there are towels," Callie says thickly pulling her close. "I made sure, they set some out for us."

"Wow, so you've done this before?" Arizona says pulling back a moment.

"Why are we talking?" Callie asks still kissing her way down, Arizona's neck.

Shivering a moment as the brunette sucks that little spot behind her ear that makes her crazy, the blonde stops for a moment and moans, "no more talking..." she says breathlessly.

* * *

Waking up the next morning, Callie is surprised to be alone in the bed. Glancing around the room, she sees Arizona's leg but not her crutches, so she must have gotten up. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Callie looks over and sees a nice fluffy robe on the chair, so she puts it on and makes her way out to find the blonde.

"Good morning," Arizona says looking up to see her girlfriend entering the room. "There's coffee."

Crossing the room, Callie sits down and leans over to kiss the blonde, "Good morning, why didn't you wake me?"

"Because you love to sleep in." Arizona replies simply.

"Yes, but I love to wake up with you." Callie says pouting slightly.

Leaning over to kiss the protruding lip, Arizona slips her hand under the robe and says, "I'll make it up to you."

"Mmm," Callie moans into the touch. "Arizona, wait. Oh, god." Callie exclaims as the blonde unfastens her own robe and climbs on top of her.

* * *

"My god, that was amazing." Callie says later as they lay together on the couch breathlessly.

"That's why I got up this morning, I couldn't lay next you awake and not touch you." Arizona explains.

"Honey, please wake me up and trust that as much as I love sleep, I love sex with you more." Callie replies kissing her for emphasis.

Skeptically, Arizona raises an eyebrow, "I may have to test you on that."

"Please do." Callie replies playfully. "But now I do need some coffee and maybe a snack." She says standing up and putting her robe back on. Then walking over to the kitchen she washes her hands and pours a cup of coffee.

"How hungry are you? Do you want me to cook a full breakfast?" Callie asks as she stands in front of the open refrigerator.

"It's almost 10, I can wait until lunch." Arizona says pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Callie closes the door and watches the blonde. It's still hard for her to get used to how comfortable Arizona is now. Callie can still remember when Arizona wouldn't let her see her without her prosthetic and now it isn't even an issue.

Smiling she turns around and takes a bite out of an apple.

"What are you thinking?" Arizona asks softly as she leans on the counter and sets her crutches aside.

Carefully, Callie crosses the room and reaches out to her, caressing her neck and smoothing out the collar of the robe.

"I'm thinking about how beautiful you look this morning and the crazy path that we've taken to get to this point." She says softly.

"Yeah." Arizona replies thoughtfully. "I wasn't sure we'd ever make it back to this."

"Arizona, I can't tell you how happy I am that we have made it back to this. I love you so, so very much." Callie says tearfully.

Reaching up to wipe away a tear falling from her soft brown eyes, Arizona pulls her close. "Calliope, I love you too."


	11. Chapter 11

_**Another rainy day off is a drag but at least I get to write. Hope you don't mind the fast forward time hop, but I do need to move the story along. Thanks for reading and comments are much appreciated!**_

* * *

"Dr Robbins?" the young man asks approaching the blonde across the tarmac.

"Yes, I'm Dr Robbins." She replies, as he approaches and offers to take her bags.

"Right this way, my name is Yael. I am here to take you to the clinic."

"Thank you Yael." Arizona says handing over a couple of her bags and following him to the truck with the others.

The trip to clinic is long and it's been 32 hours since she left Seattle. In Hong Kong, she had a long layover and they were able to Skype, but now that she's landed the exhaustion has caught up with her and she needs a shower and a bed. It's 3 am at home, so she sends an email to let Callie know that she's landed and getting settled at the clinic.

* * *

Waking up Callie grabs her phone to check for a message from Arizona, nothing. But then her email icon flashes and she smiles. The blonde has landed and will sleep for several hours before she hears from her again. But Callie breathes a sigh of relief, neither of them would admit it, but she knows that they were both freaked out at the thought of Arizona flying again.

* * *

In Malawi, Arizona wakes up disoriented on the couch in the office. She showered and changed into scrubs then laid down on the couch and immediately fell asleep. Looking up, she sees Brenda the office manager quietly working on the computer.

"Oh Brenda, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep in here." Arizona says struggling to sit up.

"Not a problem Dr Robbins, I tried to wake you to move you to your room, but you were out. " She says smiling.

"Ugh, that flight was worse than I remembered, but then it's been a while since I made the trip over here." Arizona replies sitting up and looking for her crutches.

"Oh, here. I picked them up off the floor. I was afraid you'd trip over them, but now I understand..." she says moving to grab the crutches and hand them to her.

"Yeah, I've changed quite a bit since last time I was here." Arizona admits getting up and moving to the door.

"I had your things taken to your room in the dormitory. I gave you the suite so you'd have your own bathroom." Brenda informs her.

"Oh thank you, is my prosthetic there?" Arizona asks.

"Yes, it is. You had placed it in the case and I had them move everything to your room. I didn't realize at first, I'm sorry." Brenda says embarrassed because she thought she was helping and now isn't so sure.

"Oh that's fine. After wearing it for almost 36 hours, it feels really good to have it off for a while. By the way, what time is it and can I get something to eat?" Arizona says leaning against the door.

Relieved, Brenda looks up at the clock and replies, "It's almost dinner time, so go freshen up. You'll be meeting the staff at dinner tonight."

"Thank you Brenda." Arizona says sweetly before moving off down the hall to the dormitory.

* * *

In her room, Arizona is going through her things trying to find her phone. Then there's a knock on the door. Opening the door, a young woman hands her the phone.

"Brenda found this in the office and figured that you were looking for it." She begins, then adds "Oh and I'm Dr. Ashley Stevens, from Baylor Med Center."

"Nice to meet you Dr Stevens, I'm Arizona Robbins from Sloan-Grey, Seattle." Arizona replies extending her hand.

Reaching out to shake the offered hand, Dr Stevens can't help but notice the crutches.

"Above the knee amputation, three years ago." Arizona says explaining.

"Plane crash in Idaho. I googled you when I landed this fellowship. Its just you don't look like an amputee, I kind of forgot until I saw the crutches." Stevens explains awkwardly.

Laughing a moment, Arizona pauses and looks at the young doctor wondering if she's gay and this is some kind of come on. She has to admit, the girl is attractive, but she's no Calliope Torres.

"Thank you, I think." Arizona says smiling politely and backing up to close the door. "I'll see you at dinner."

Watching the door close the young doctor looks down a little embarrassed that her flirting was rejected.

* * *

"Arizona!" Callie exclaims as she answers the call.

"Calliope, it's so good to hear your voice. I'm sorry that I didn't Skype." Arizona replies. "But the wifi is out right now."

"I'm just really happy to hear your voice too. How is it going over there?" Callie says smiling into the phone.

"It's good. We had dinner and I met everyone last night, today I went on rounds and reviewed all the cases in the ward." Arizona explains. "Um, I really miss you. How are you doing?"

"Aw, I really miss you too. It's weird to be here without you. I spent last night reading on the couch and I kept glancing up at the door thinking you'd be home soon." Callie replies. "Oh wait, Sofia is up. Hold on."

"Momma?" Sofia says into the phone.

"Hey baby girl, are you taking good care of Mami?" Arizona asks her daughter.

"Yes, Momma. How is Africa? Are there giraffes there?" Sofia asks curiously.

Smiling and laughing, Arizona replies, "There are probably giraffes around her somewhere Sof, but none here at the clinic. I'll send you some pictures this week though, so you and Mami can see the clinic. Okay?"

"Okay, Momma I miss you." Sofia replies."

"Aw, I miss you too sweet girl. Now you should go back to bed so Mami and I can finish our visit before I have to go back to work, okay?" Arizona asks her.

"Okay Momma. Is it daytime or nighttime in Africa?" Sofia asks one more question.

"It's almost lunch time here." Arizona replies, "Now good night sweetheart."

"Good night Momma." Sofia says handing the phone back to Callie and toddling back to bed.

Callie follows her and watches her put herself back to bed and smiles into the phone.

"Is she back in bed?" Arizona asks.

"Yeah, she's getting so big. It seems like it was just last week that she could barely climb in and out of that bed." Callie replies softly into the phone.

Crying softly Arizona tries to hide it by moving the phone away from her face.

"Honey, are you crying?" Callie asks. "Arizona?"

"Sorry, I just was picturing how much she's going to grow while I'm here," the blonde says softly.

"I'll take pictures. I'll send you videos. You won't miss it. You won't miss anything." Callie replies strongly.

Sniffling into the phone, Arizona wipes her eyes and takes a big breath and exhales it slowly.

"How is your prosthetic holding up?" Callie asks changing the subject.

"Its good. I didn't wear it yesterday, but I've got it back on today and it feels fine." She replies.

"Good. Any blistering or bruising from the trip?" Callie asks.

"Calliope, I am taking care of it. It's fine. I am a doctor, you may recall." Arizona says playfully.

"Yes, I know and a very stubborn one too." Callie replies smiling into the phone.

Next she hears raised voices and then Arizona says, "Callie, I've got to go. I love you!"

"I love you too." Callie says into the phone, but the call was disconnected. Sighing she stares at the phone and then sets it down on the table.

* * *

"What do we have?" Arizona asks entering the trauma room.

Dr Stewart glances up and replies, "30 year old pregnant female; estimated at 31 weeks. Hemorrhaging blood since early morning."

Moving around to the foot of the bed, Arizona lifts up the sheet and begins a pelvic examination, she speaks to the woman in her limited Chichewa trying to put her at ease.

"You speak Chichewa?" Dr Stewart asks after the exam.

"Just a little. I pick up languages easily. My dad was military, I grew up all over the world." Arizona explains.

"You need to update your Doctor-pedia page, it's impressive, but no where as impressive as you are." Dr Stewart replies biting her lip.

"Let's just focus on Anayla, Dr Stewart." Arizona replies ignoring the flirting again. "The exam indicates that she's experiencing antepartum hemorrhaging, is it placenta previa or placental abruption?"

"We need to do a Doppler ultrasound to determine that." Dr Stewart replies.

"We don't have access to a Doppler ultrasound doctor, what is another way for us to make the diagnosis?" Arizona asks.

"We can use the ultrasound that we have to determine if she has placenta previa and if she doesn't then it's like to be an abruption." Dr Stewart replies.

"The absence of blood clots and the color of the blood indicate that it's not an abruption, so we actually already know it's placenta previa." Arizona says crossing over to push the the ultrasound into the exam room.

"Oh." Dr Stewart says following her. "Is this ultrasound going to show us if she needs surgery?" Stewart asks.

"I'm almost positive that she needs surgery." Arizona replies, then turning to Anayla smiling she speaks calmly. "We're going to check the baby now Anayla, okay?"

Nodding the woman lays silently, scared she reaches out for the blonde's hand and Arizona gives her a squeeze, then smiles again to reassure her. Nodding at the younger doctor, Arizona waits for her to put the gel on Anayla's abdomen, then Arizona gently presses the wand to her skin.

"Carefully showing no signs of concern on her face, Arizona says flatly, "Dr Stewart would you go prepare the OR and send Stephanie in here to prep her?"

"Uh, yeah... I-I" Dr Stewart begins to ask more questions.

"I'll explain everything in a few minutes, just go Ashley, okay?" Arizona directs her more firmly, but still smiling.

A few minutes later Stephanie enters the room. "Yes Dr Robbins, what do we have here?" She asks smiling, she's worked at the clinic long enough to know that the Malawi people are very scared of surgery, so she can't look alarmed at all.

"Anayla is 31 weeks along and it looks like the placenta has slipped a little down to the cervix. We're going to need to go in and fix that." Arizona says carefully, then repeats it in Chichewa as much as she can.

Anayla nods okay. And Arizona stands up and squeezes her shoulder. "I'm going to take good care of you Anayla." She says before stepping out of the room with Stephanie.

"How bad is it Dr Robbins?" Stephanie asks.

"It's bad. I'm going to try to repair the placenta, but it's more likely that we're going to have to deliver the baby in order to save her life. If we're lucky we can save both of them." Arizona replies. "Now I'm going to go scrub and explain this to Dr Stewart. Hopefully, she's up for this."

"You should have Dr Andersen scrub in, he's a neonatal specialist and he can take the baby while you save the mother." Stephanie advises.

"Excellent idea. Thank you." Arizona says smiling at the nurse.

* * *

Three hours later Arizona and the other doctors are finally out of surgery.

"That cauterization trick was an interesting choice Dr Robbins." Dr Andersen remarks.

"Thank you. I tried it on another previa case during my fetal fellowship and it worked, so now I've made sure to always have them on hand for these cases." She explains.

"Have you published? I don't know another doctor using cauterization in a previa case. This is quite the innovation." Dr Andersen replies.

"I have written it, but I haven't published it yet." Arizona responds, "I can't believe that I still haven't published, but now I can add this case to it and publish it."

"It will be a great publicity for the clinic for you to publish with a case from here too." Dr Stewart points out.

"Oh, well you are right, it will be good publicity for the clinic program." Arizona admits.

"Well, you ladies can go grab some sleep and I'll take the first watch on our patients." Dr Andersen offers.

* * *

Laying down in her room Arizona takes off the prosthetic and massages her stump. She's exhausted but feels really good about the surgery. Checking the time, she sees that it's still too early to call Callie, so she sends her an email instead.

 _Callie,_

 _We had an emergency Placenta Previa case come in to the clinic today. We saved both the mother and the baby. I did the cauterization procedure again and it appears to have staved off the blood loss and saved the mother's life. I really need to publish that journal article, after I update it with this new case, of course._

 _I hope you have an amazing day and I miss you so much. The wifi is fixed, obviously, so I'll Skype you tomorrow evening._

 _XOXOX,_

 _Arizona_


	12. Chapter 12

"Have you heard from Arizona lately?" Darren asks Callie over lunch.

"Yes, we talk or email every day. She's doing really well over there and is about to publish the Placenta Previa case, she just had another case and the cauterization procedure worked again." Callie explains.

"Oh that's exciting. I can't wait to read about the 'Robbins' method." Darren says teasing.

"I think you mean the 'Robbins' procedure'" Callie replies.

"Yeah, that's really awesome. The 'Robbins' procedure', that has a nice ring to it." Darren agrees.

"She's a brilliant and talented surgeon, it's about time everyone knows it." Callie says proudly.

"Once she publishes this procedure, I bet she'll be nominated for a Harper Avery." Darren replies.

"Oh you better believe she'll be nominated for it, but doctors from Sloan Grey don't win them." Callie points out.

"Good thing she's publishing from the Timothy Daniel Robbins Memorial Clinic in Malawi then." Darren says.

"Oh my god, you're right. If she publishes from there instead of here, she may actually have a chance to win it." Callie replies excitedly. "Not to mention how much additional publicity that she'll get for the clinic."

* * *

"Hey baby, how has your day been?" Callie says when Arizona appears on her computer.

"It's been an amazing day. The baby is thriving, though it was touch and go early this morning." Arizona explains, "We had to take the mother back into to surgery early this morning too. But we were able to recauterize the bleeders and her numbers are way up, so I think she's in the clear now."

"What happened with the baby?" Callie asks.

"Oh his lungs collapsed, but we had a surfactant treatment available and he responded to it and his numbers are up now, but we're still watching him closely. We were able to borrow and get delivered a NICU cube from the hospital in Blantyre." Arizona explains further.

"That's impressive Arizona. It's good that you were there." Callie replies, then pauses. "Hey, Darren and I were talking over lunch and it seems that you publishing from the clinic could put you in a great position for a Harper Avery."

"Calliope, I'm more excited to publish this to help save more women from bleeding out. And I'm contacting the cauterization manufacturer with some modification suggestions. There's a young doctor here, Ashley Stewart from Baylor Med and she pointed out that if the manufacturer knew how I was using the kit, they may be able to improve it to make it more effective." Arizona says excitedly.

"That's... uh, wow. That's a great point. But maybe we should contact the hospital attorney to see if you should patent your procedure or something first. The manufacturer may take your suggestion and then make a ton of money off of your idea." Callie remarks.

"Yeah, I know. I'm working with an attorney from Texas, it turns out Ashley's dad is an attorney and he recommended one in the medical field." Arizona explains.

"Wow, if all of your doctors are as brilliant as this Ashley, the clinic must be in really good shape." Callie says a little sharply.

Catching the tone, Arizona looks at her, "Hey, Calliope." she says staring right into the camera.

Looking up, a little embarrassed that she's jealous of this person just because she's there with Arizona, "I'm sorry, I just miss you so much." Callie says running her fingers through her thick curls.

"I know Cal, I miss you too." Arizona says smiling brightly, "I love you so much."

Staring a moment into those incredible blue eyes smiling at her, Callie melts a bit, "I love you too," she says returning the smile.

"You're so beautiful and that smile, that smile is super magic." Arizona says reaching down to take a screen shot.

"Wait did you just take a picture of me?" Callie asks, "Arizona I'm a mess, you delete that right now." Callie says loudly.

"No, that super magic smile is all I need to get me through this trip and back to Seattle," the blonde replies playfully.

Reaching down, Callie takes a screen shot of the blonde, "Okay, then I get one too." She says almost sticking her tongue out, then realizing that the blonde still has her hands on the keyboard. "Wait, no more pictures."

Laughing Arizona pulls her hands away and shows them, "Okay, okay. No more pictures."

Relieved Callie sits back and smiles at the blonde and she takes one more photo.

"Arizona! You promised." Callie protests.

"I know, but you're so hot, I can't help it," the blonde teases.

"I'm going to ban Skype calls if you're going to keep taking photos of me." Callie protests again.

"Okay, okay." Arizona says holding up her hands.

"Wait, is that... Are you wearing the ring?" Callie says moving closer to the screen.

"Yes, is that weird?" Arizona asks.

"N-n-no, I'm just surprised is all. I didn't know what you did with it, it was such a long time ago." Callie says softly.

* * *

Disconnecting the call, Callie sighs heavily and then pulls up the screenshot that she took during the call. Arizona is laughing and smiling just for her. Her phone dings and its a message from Meredith with a photo of Zola and Sofia in the bathtub playing. Smiling, Callie forwards it to Arizona's email. Then types a message to Meredith.

Then the phone rings and it's Meredith.

"Hey Mer, are they out of the bath already?" Callie asks.

"Oh yeah, Amelia put them to bed and is reading them a story." Meredith explains. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good. I just finished Skyping with Arizona." Callie replies. "She's finishing her journal article and finally going to publish it and she's contacted a patent attorney about working with the cauterization manufacturer for a modification on the kit to make it more suitable for the 'Robbins' Procedure'"

"Oh good that she's working with an attorney, remember what Derek and Mark went through on their modification kit." Meredith reminds her.

"Yeah, I started to remind her, but she was already on it. She's got an attorney from Texas that she's working with, apparently one of the surgeons there suggested it." Callie explains.

"Well, that's great. Is she going to publish from the clinic then and not Sloan-Grey?" Meredith asks.

"Yes, it's going to really help publicize the clinic and help her attract more fellowship participants." Callie points out.

"Not to mention that if she gets nominated for a Harper Avery it could help her win if she's not from Sloan-Grey." Meredith points out.

"Yeah Darren and I thought of that too. But she swears she just wants to do it from the clinic for the publicity, but it would be awesome if she gets nominated too." Callie gushes proudly.

"She deserves it, that's an incredible innovation." Meredith agrees. "So how is she doing over there?"

"She seems to be doing well." Callie replies. "She's wearing the ring that I gave her after we bought the house."

Pausing a moment, Meredith says, "That's a gorgeous ring, why wouldn't she wear it?"

"Well, its from the old us, not the new us." Callie replies confused.

"But not all of the old you was bad." Meredith points out.

"True, but still I did just sell the house so it's odd. It just strikes me as odd that she took the ring that she hasn't worn in years with her to Africa and is wearing it." Callie continues to question it.

"Well, I do see your point. But obviously it reminds her of you in a good way or she wouldn't be wearing it." Meredith remarks.

* * *

"That ring is gorgeous." Dr Stewart comments at dinner that night.

"Thank you," Arizona says smiling. "It was a gift."

Looking down and smiling to herself, she gets it. Dr Robbins' subtle way of telling her that she's not single.

Arizona smiles to herself, pleased that she thought to bring the ring with her to Africa. Not only does it remind her of the happiness when she and Callie bought the house, it serves this purpose.

"It must be difficult to be separated from your girlfriend." Dr Stewart comments.

"It is, but she's not really my girlfriend, we have a child together." Arizona points out.

"Oh, wow. I didn't know that you had a baby." She remarks.

"Yes, our daughter is about to turn five. Actually, she will turn five before I get back." Arizona says sadly.

"I - I just went through a break up. Well taking this fellowship sort of precipitated the break up. We were heading that direction, which is obviously why I applied for the fellowship. I mean, if things are going well in your relationship you don't apply for a two year fellowship halfway around the world." Dr Stewart confesses.

"Oh, well I'm sorry to hear that but I do understand; geography is a solid break up method though." Arizona replies.


	13. Chapter 13

"Well, the baby is flourishing now." Dr Andersen says sitting down with his lunch tray.

"Excellent news. The mother is doing well also." Arizona replies, glancing up from her lunch.

"Have you had anytime to work on updating your journal article with this case?" Andersen asks.

"I have. Also I'm working with an attorney it appears that there's a new use feature in patent law, which would allow me to not only patent the procedure, but also the kit modification." Arizona explains.

"Well, if you need someone to proof your article, I'd love to read it." Dr Andersen offers.

"Thanks, that would be helpful." Arizona replies, "Let's meet tomorrow after rounds and we can review my notes."

* * *

"Okay, what do we have?" Callie asks as she enters the trauma room.

"Motorcycle vs car. 22 year old female, the bike went down on a wet road and the semi went over her. She has multiple injuries." The EMT explains.

"No kidding, she's lucky to be alive. I don't see a lot of road rash, so she was wearing protective clothing at least." Callie says as she begins the examination. "Bring in that portable X-ray and let's get started."

Paulson steps back so the tech can draw blood. "She looks pretty good considering. I didn't find signs of significant internal injuries. But I've ordered a full body MRI just to be safe."

"Okay, well let me know when her tests are available. I'm going to check on my post ops and then I'll be back. Her hand is crushed, so I could spend the rest of the day repairing that, but I need to know what else is broken." Callie replies before handing him the chart back and leaving the room.

In the elevator she sends Arizona a Skype message, "Just got a big trauma in the ER, looks like I'll be in surgery most of the day. XOXO."

* * *

Frowning, Arizona looks out the window. She was really looking forward to talking with Callie this afternoon, but she knows that a big trauma for Callie means she's incredibly focused and probably rebuilding something on a patient.

Sighing, she picks up the phone and calls her parents instead, it's been a while since they've talked and she has a lot to tell them.

* * *

"Darren, the leg is stable. I need to work on the hand first. She could lose function, not to mention a finger or two if we wait any longer. She's young, there's no reason for her to lose function in her hand if she doesn't have to." Callie argues as she scrubs in for surgery.

"Well, how about I scrub in and work on the leg while you repair the hand?" He suggests.

"No, I'm the only one working on that leg. I have a plan and I don't have time to explain it to you. If you want to scrub in, you can work on the lacerations and debriding the abrasions, she may even need a skin graft, so page Avery." Callie directs him.

He huffs for a moment, but then realizes despite being Chief of Trauma, she's the head of Ortho and this is definitely her case first and foremost, so he checks his ego and makes the call to Avery.

"Would you have Shepherd look over her CT scan too. I want to make sure there's nothing from the head injury that's going to pop up during this procedure?" Callie adds.

Paulson looks over at the brunette for a moment, then picks up the phone and makes the next call. He hasn't been here that long, but he knows when Torres gets in the zone, it's best to just follow her directions or she'll run right over you.

* * *

"Bokhee, thank you for scrubbing in with me today, would you start our music." Callie says taking a deep breathe and then glancing around the room she adds, "Hope you all had a good lunch, we're going to be in here a while."

About an hour or more into the surgery, Amelia steps into the OR. "Dr Torres, may I check the patient's head injury?" She asks, then noticing Bokhee, she nods to her.

"Go right ahead Dr Shepherd." Callie says not even looking up, she has pins and screws out, rebuilding the hand in great detail.

Pausing a moment to look at the hand as she moves around to the head, Amelia shakes her head. "It looks like it was her lucky day after all, nice work Torres."

Nodding, Callie remains silent and focused with Wilson beside her assisting and helping her follow the plan that she mapped out on her tablet earlier.

"Little swelling here, how much longer are you going to be?" Shepherd asks as she examines the patient.

Jo looks at Callie and realizes that she didn't even hear Shepherd's question. "I think we'll be at least another hour or more, is there a problem?"

"Torres!" Shepherd says to get her attention. "Torres, how much longer are you going to be?"

Looking up slowly, Callie glares at her then realizes what she asked. "Oh, an hour maybe more. Can you control the swelling?" She asks.

"I will, but try to keep it closer to an hour. She can't stay under anesthesia much longer today." Shepherd advises.

Nodding, Callie looks back down at the hand and goes back to work.

* * *

"Wilson, I need you to stay with her and set up the elevation sling and pack this hand in ice. Swelling at this point could undo all my work." Callie directs her. Then turning to enter the scrub room to scrub out she sees Amelia is still there.

"Thanks for the assist Shepherd, but why didn't you send Edwards in for this." Callie asks as she tears off her mask and begins scrubbing out.

"I was free and I don't mind watching you work. It's really amazing, what you do. You're giving that young woman a chance at a normal life with two functioning hands. If she'd gone to another hospital, they probably just would have amputated those fingers." Shepherd says complimenting her.

Smiling broadly, Callie turns around and leans back on the sink and crosses her arms. "You're not wrong. Thanks Shepherd." Then she rips off her gown and heads out of the room.

"Oh and you took Bokhee, so I had to join your surgery!" Amelia calls out teasing her for taking her favorite scrub nurse.

* * *

"How'd it go," Darren asks as Callie approaches the elevator after the surgery.

"It went well. She'll need at least two more surgeries over the next year, but should get at least 75% function back in her hand. "I still need to work on her leg, but that will have to wait a few hours."

"Mark called and I told him that I may be bringing Miss Sofia home with me..." Darren says offering to take her for the night.

"Darren, that would be great. I'm not sure when I'll be done and may even just need to stay here tonight to monitor her." Callie says reaching out to touch his arm. "You're a great friend. Would it be too much to ask you to Skype Arizona with Sofia tonight too?"

"No problem, I'd love to check in with her myself." He admits, then leans in and gives the brunette a hug. "Good work today Callie, if Arizona was here I'm sure she'd have a big ol' kiss for you." He says pulling away and kissing her cheek.

* * *

Closing the door to the on-call room, Callie looks around and then lays down on the bunk. Giving herself a moment to just relax, she closes her eyes. It's been almost a month since Arizona left for Africa, but it feels like only a week. They've had so much contact with each other this time and for the first time since they've been together they're in a really solid place. Callie's never felt as close and confident with Arizona as she does right now. Even though they haven't talked in over 24 hours, the short messages they have exchanged convey the connection that they share. Thinking back to the first time Arizona left for Africa and the terrible scene in the airport. Callie is still amazed that they have made it full circle and here they are still together, surviving yet another trip to Africa. I should go with her next time, Callie thinks. It's been over six years since she built the clinic and I've yet to see it. Sofia is getting old enough now, I should totally go next time, Callie thinks as she drifts off into sleep.

* * *

"Hey Darren, who is that pretty little girl beside you?" Arizona says as she opens the Skype link.

"Momma it's me!" Sofia says leaning forward to touch the blonde's face through the screen.

"Hello darling, how are you?" Arizona asks her daughter.

"I'm having a sleepover with Uncle Darren and Mark," the little girl exclaims.

"Callie is still at the hospital, she's working on motorcyclist who was run over by a semi." Darren explains.

"Oh god, well he's lucky that he has her as his surgeon." Arizona admits.

"It's a girl, the motorcyclist is a young woman." Darren informs her.

"Oh, really? Well, Callie will be even more amazing then," the blonde replies smiling at the thought of a focused and confident Calliope Torres rebuilding the young woman's broken bones.


	14. Chapter 14

_**I'm happy to say that my schedule has changed a little and I have time to write again! So here's another chapter my GA friends and don't worry, I've got about four or five chapters left to wrap this one up in a beautiful Calzona ending.**_

* * *

The long night finally ended with Callie and Jo back in the OR repairing the leg. They were just wheeling the patient out to recovery when Darren came up to check on her.

"You look like hell. Long night?" he asks.

"Yes, but we got the leg repaired and she's stable again. How was Sofia last night?" Callie asks leaning against the wall as they talk.

"She was good. Mark still has her, he insisted on braiding her hair like Pocahontas this morning. He'll drop her off at daycare later this morning." Darren explains.

"Ah, a Pocahontas morning. I've suffered many a melt down over my inability to braid her hair just like Momma. Thank god Mark can braid hair, since Arizona's not here." Callie replies.

Laughing Darren reaches out and squeezes her shoulder, "Well go get a nap and I'll page you when she's here."

"Thanks Darren. Oh and how was Arizona last night?" Callie asks, hiding a yawn behind her hand.

"She's busy, but looks good." He informs her. "She's going to message you."

"Okay, I'll log in and check. Thanks again Darren." Callie says leaning in and kissing him on the cheek.

Then turning to see Wilson coming down the hall, she says, "Wilson, did you re-check her hand?"

"Yes, Dr Torres. I have her set up just like we discussed and I have the new intern, Jeremy monitoring your patients. I reviewed your guidelines with him and he knows what to watch out for." She says hiding a yawn.

"Okay, well go home and get some rest." Callie replies as the walk together down the hall. Then stopping in front of the on-call room. Callie adds, "Good night," and steps in and closes the door.

Sitting on the bed she looks at her phone and sees a message from Arizona.

"Hey Cal, hope your surgery was amazing. I miss you so much. Hope we can talk around 1 pm Seattle time."

Smiling, Callie types out a quick response and then sets the alarm on her phone for 10 am, the latest that she dares to do rounds.

* * *

Hearing her computer chime, Arizona pulls up the message from Callie and smiles. Then sees an email from Mark.

"What is your trick to getting these braids to look like Pocahontas?" He asks and has sent a photo of what he's done.

Checking the time stamp on the email, Arizona pulls up Skype and calls him. In a few seconds his face fills her screen.

"Mark, you have to french braid three or four rows and then braid them all together down her back. Callie had them cut layers in at her last hair appointment, so you can't do the one single braid." Arizona explains.

"Oh, I should have realized that." He replies, setting the phone down so the blonde can watch them in the mirror.

"Momma, I want you to braid my hair." Sofia calls out.

"Sof, I would love to braid your hair, but I'm still in Africa. Don't worry, Uncle Mark is going to get it done just right for you." Arizona reassures her daughter.

"Okay sweetheart, I'm almost done." Mark calls out. "There," he says picking up the phone to show Arizona the braid.

"Oh Sofia, that looks awesome." Arizona exclaims. "Tell Uncle Mark thank you for braiding your hair this morning."

"Thank you." Sofia says softly, then looking at the phone, she asks, "Momma when do you come home?"

"In a few weeks, baby girl." Arizona replies. "Thanks for doing that Mark. I guess you're taking her to daycare this morning?"

"Yes, Darren went in earlier and I have a light day. Sofia and I have a breakfast date at the coffee shop down the street and then I'll drop her off on my way to an appointment."

Beaming Arizona says goodbye to them both with tears in her eyes.

* * *

Waking up, Callie is surprised to have another message from Arizona on her phone. Pulling it up she smiles. It's a screenshot of Sofia's braids. Apparently Mark had to call for help this morning.

Laughing as walks up to the Nurses' station, Callie is surprised to see Wilson sitting there. "I thought you were off, why are you still here?" She asks.

"I had the intern page me if he had questions, so I've been helping him monitor the biker." Jo explains.

"Okay, thanks. But I'll take it from here. Wilson you really need to get some rest. Go take the on-call room. I've got this." Callie directs her.

"Okay," Jo says yawning again. "Page me if you need me." She says barely able to get the words out before yawning again.

"I don't think so." Callie says laughing at her. "Get some sleep." She says firmly as the young doctor walks away.

* * *

"Arizona?" Callie asks when her phone connects to Skype and the call opens.

"It's Brenda actually. Dr Robbins asked me to call you and let you know that she's in the OR. We had three cases come in a short while ago, there was a wreck and they couldn't get them to the hospital, so they brought them to us." Brenda explains.

"Oh, well thanks for calling me and letting me know, Brenda." Callie replies, disappointed. "Tell her to call me when she can, I'm off tomorrow."

"Okay, Dr Torres. I'll let her know." Brenda replies before ending the connection.

Groaning in disappointment, Callie pulls up her surgery schedule and reviews it, sends a couple of changes to the schedule for later in the week and then sends it to the scheduler.

* * *

Waking up to the sound of her phone ringing, Callie pulls off her sleep mask and answers quickly. "This is Dr Torres." She says clearly.

"Hey, it's me." Arizona says softly.

"Arizona, why are you calling the house phone? I thought it was the exchange." Callie says a little confused.

"Sorry, I really needed to hear your voice." She says tearfully.

"Baby, what's going on? Why are you crying?" Callie asks tenderly.

"I was in surgery all day, we had three men badly injured. I-I-I had to amputate a leg today." Arizona explains.

"Oh god, I'm sorry that you had to do that." Callie says softly.

"Yeah, it really sucks. And I have two children with club foot that need surgery and I can't get Doctors Without Borders to send me an ortho until the next rotation." The blonde says tiredly.

"How old are the children?" Callie asks.

"The boy is four and the girl is about two, she can't walk at all. Her family brought her in yesterday and they haven't been back. I'm a little worried that they've abandoned her." Arizona replies.

"Oh my god, that's terrible." Callie says sadly. "Why don't you send me their case files and maybe I can help you figure it out."

"Oh Callie, would you do that? And also, give me a list of supplies and implements, so I can get the clinic set up for these surgeries. I am going to post an ortho fellowship. In the past, I've been able to rely on Doctors Without Borders sending an ortho in each rotation, but it would seem that is no longer the case." Arizona explains.

"Send me the case files and let me help. Now how is everything else going?" Callie asks sitting up in the bed.

"It's going well. I have a dutch trauma doc, Andersen. He's quite talented, then there's Stewart, she's a young peds surgeon from Baylor. She's the one who helped me find the attorney." Arizona replies. "Brenda is still here, oh and Stephanie, my surgical nurse from Hopkins is back."

"Wait, your surgical nurse from Hopkins followed you over to Africa?" Callie asks surprised.

"Not exactly, she has volunteered at the clinic 3 months each year since I started the clinic. We just happened to overlap this time." The blonde explains.

"Wow, that's amazing. She's been working at the clinic every year?" Callie asks again.

"Yes, you should come over sometime and then you'd understand." Arizona suggests.

"Three months out of every year? That's quite a commitment." The brunette replies, still trying to understand that level of commitment.

"Callie, I committed to three years when I began the clinic, but then changed it to four months a year for five years. But I couldn't work it out with everything that happened with Sofia and the wreck, then the plane crash." Arizona reminds her gently.

Sighing into the phone, Callie close her eyes and then opens them quickly, "Arizona, why don't I come out and do a rotation? I'll talk to your folks, they've been wanting more time with Sofia, why don't we see if they'll take her so I can come out and help?"

"Wait, what?" Arizona can't believe what she just heard.

"You're due home in a few weeks, if I fly out first of next week, we'll be there together for most of it and then I can help and I really want to visit your clinic. Darren was telling me about it at lunch last week and it feels weird that I haven't been out there yet." Callie suggests.

"Calliope are you sure that you want to do this?" Arizona asks her.

"Yes, I really do. I'll make all the arrangements and give you the details. Oh and send me those case files, so I can make sure and have everything that I need for those surgeries." Callie says firmly.

"Uh, okay. If you're sure, then I'll make the arrangements on this end. But Callie, just sleep on it first and let me know tomorrow if you're sure. Its okay if you change your mind. I know that you hate this type of travel." Arizona says giving her an out.

"Oh, I don't need to sleep on it. Arizona, I'm coming out there and I'll see you next week." Callie says confidently.


	15. Chapter 15

"Excuse me, I thought you just said that you're going to Africa for a month." Meredith says the next day at lunch. "Who's going to watch Sofia if you're both in Africa?

"I'm flying to Baltimore with Sofia and she's going to stay with Arizona's parents." Callie explains to Meredith.

"Oh, well they'll probably love having her." Meredith concedes, still looking at Callie questioningly.

"They are really excited to have her and I'm looking forward to going, there are two children with club foot that need surgery, one is a two year old girl whose family may have abandoned her, Meredith." Callie replies and pokes her fork at the blonde for emphasis.

"You already have surgeries planned?" Meredith asks.

"Yes, I just got the case files this morning. The two year old's surgery will be relatively simple, but the the four year old boy has one of the worst cases that I've seen." The brunette replies.

"Worse than the one you and Alex did when we were residents?" Meredith recalls.

"Well, it is as bad as that one. I won't know if its worse until I examine him. It will definitely take multiple surgeries to correct but he's young, so hopefully he'll heal quickly so I can get at least two of the surgeries done before I leave." Callie replies confidently.

* * *

"Wait, did you just say that Callie is going to Africa?" Darren asks Kepner.

"I just assumed that you knew, since you all are so close." Kepner says trying to play it off.

"Well, no she hasn't told us. I wonder who's going to take care of Sofia?" He asks, disappointed.

"Sofia will be staying in Baltimore with Arizona's parents." Callie says walking up behind them and overhearing that part of the conversation.

"Oh, well do you need me or Mark to do anything while you're both gone?" Darren asks turning around to face the brunette.

"We need a ride to the airport on Thursday." Callie says picking up a chart and turning to walk away.

"Oh, well I guess we can do that." Darren says more to himself than anyone else, since both Kepner and Callie have walked away from him.

* * *

"I'm as surprised as you are." Arizona says later to her parents.

"We're delighted to have Sofia, but we were quite surprised when Callie explained why." Barbara replies.

"Well, I am floored to tell you the truth," Arizona says, still shocked that Callie bought a plane ticket and made all the arrangements to go to Africa in a 6 hour period of time. "But I'm excited to have her visit the clinic. Not to mention what she can do for my patients. Mom, I have a two year old abandoned by her family because she can't walk. And there's a four year old who shouldn't be able to walk, but some how he does get around. These children are so lucky that Callie is coming, she will do what few other surgeons can and they will both walk because of her." Arizona replies excited that Callie is finally coming to Africa.

"That's wonderful darling. I'm so happy that she's going to make the trip and just as happy that we get Sofia!" Barbara exclaims.

* * *

"Calliope!" Arizona says as the brunette climbs out of the truck.

A very exhausted brunette pauses and leans against the door. "Shower, food, sleep, please." Callie mutters.

Taking her bags, Arizona gives her a hug and says, "Follow me, we have a suite with our own bathroom."

"Thank god." Callie says behind her sunglasses. "It's so bright here." She mutters.

Opening their door, Arizona sets down the bags and then presses Callie up against the door and kisses her. "Oh my god, I've missed you."

"Baby, I need a few minutes to get cleaned up. I feel like ass after that flight. You know I can't sleep on the plane or in the airport." Callie whines.

"I know, but it's just so good to see you. The shower is in there, I'll go get you something to eat." Arizona replies stepping back to give her space.

Pulling the blonde back to her, Callie smiles broadly. "I'm really happy to see you too. Just give me a few hours to catch up and I'll show you how much."

"Calliope!" Arizona exclaims playfully pushing her away.

* * *

Stepping back into the room, Arizona isn't surprised to see the brunette passed out on the bed snoring lightly. She sets the salad down and leaves a note, then pauses a moment to kiss her forehead lightly before closing the door.

At dinner that night, the other doctors and staff are excited about having Dr Calliope Torres at the clinic. Dr Andersen has told them about the cartilage project and Arizona told them about the advancements in prosthetics that Callie is currently working on with the VA in Seattle.

"I can't wait to meet her and see her operate," Stephanie exclaims, smiling at Arizona as she knows that Callie is the blonde's ex and current girlfriend.

* * *

Laying in bed that night, Arizona can't help but caress the brunette's face as she lays beside her.

"Hey," Callie says waking up slowly.

Leaning over, Arizona kisses her lightly. "I'm so happy that you're here." She replies tearfully.

"Me too." Callie says reaching up to wipe away the tear from the blonde's face.

"I'm sorry." Arizona says softly.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Callie asks sitting up suddenly to face the blonde.

Shaking her head, the blonde gasps then says tearfully, "I'm sorry that you missed this, that I left you at the airport and shut you out of this."

"No, no, you don't get to be sorry for that any more." Callie says cupping her face and kissing away the tears. "Arizona if that hadn't of happened then we wouldn't have Sofia. It all happened for a reason."

Taking a moment to just hold the blonde, Callie realizes how much it means to Arizona that she came to Africa.

"I can be a self-absorbed idiot and I should apologize for not coming here sooner. I can't wait to see your amazing clinic and meet your staff who obviously are amazing. And I am excited to be a part of it." Callie says pulling her close and kissing the top of her head.

* * *

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Dr Calliope Torres. Dr Torres is an orthopedic surgeon and has developed surgical plans for both Azibo and Chotsani." Arizona says introducing Callie the next morning. "Now let's go around the room and everyone introduce yourself and tell us what your specialty is."

As everyone takes a turn, Arizona sees Brenda lurking outside the door, so she makes her way to the door and slips out.

"What is it Brenda?" Arizona asks.

"It's Roger Goodson from Doctors Without Borders, he wants to talk to you about the Ortho Fellowship position that you posted." Brenda replies.

"Okay, well tell him that I'll call him back. I'm in a meeting, that conversation can wait." Arizona says, confused that Brenda would think it was this important.

"Well, he says that he needs to talk to you right away, or I wouldn't have bothered you with it." Brenda adds.

"Interesting, okay. I'll take his call. Would you go in there and make sure that the meeting stays on track. Here's my agenda." Arizona asks handing her the agenda and moving off back down the hall to the office.

"Dr Goodson? Arizona Robbins here. How can I help you?" She says as she picks up the phone.

"Thank you, sorry for taking you out of the meeting, but I didn't realize that you were going to post an Ortho Fellowship position at your clinic. I'm concerned that you're going to pull candidates out of my program." He says quickly.

Pausing to consider his concern, the blonde realizes that he's missing her point. "No, I'll actually be training more doctors for your program Dr Goodson. Every doctor that completes my program will have trained with a Trauma surgeon, a Pediatric Surgeon and now an Ortho. How many of my people are still active in your organization?" She asks him.

"I think almost every doctor that has trained at your clinic is active in Doctors Without Borders." He replies, understanding now the point that she's trying to make. "But there aren't many Ortho surgeons in my program, so that is why I am concerned that you'll be taking them from me." He adds.

"But my point is that you won't need as many, once we begin the ortho rotation here, all my doctors will enter your program with new ortho skills that they will many use when they volunteer in your program." Arizona clarifies her position.

"Is it true that you have Dr Callie Torres there now?" He asks.

"Yes, she just arrived late yesterday and she's here to work on the two cases that you couldn't help me with." Arizona explains.

"I didn't realize that she was your colleague in Seattle, I always think of you as being a Hopkins person." He explains.

"I haven't been at Hopkins in years, Dr Goodson." Arizona replies annoyed.

"Yes, yes I know but to listen to McHale talk, you'd think you were still there working under him at Hopkins." Dr Goodson explains wanting her to understand his confusion.

"I see. Well, is there anything else that I can do for you Dr Goodson." Arizona asks, wanting to get back to her meeting.

"Yes, yes, I'm wondering if I can come out with two young doctors and observe Dr Torres' surgeries?" He asks.

"Oh, well I'll have to ask her. Can I let you know? I really need to go, I don't want to miss her surgical presentation." Arizona explains to him and quickly wraps up the call.

Slipping back into the room, she isn't surprised that Callie has everyone's attention as she begins to outline her surgical plan on Chotsani and Azibo.

* * *

"Stephanie is freaking awesome, Arizona. We have the OR set up for the procedure and I have everything that I need." Callie says excitedly as she enters the office.

"Well, I think that you're pretty awesome and you did give us a supply list of what you needed." Arizona says smiling as she looks up at the brunette leaning on her desk.

"This clinic is amazing too Arizona. I can't believe it is almost fully self-sustaining. Your own water supply and treatment. When I was in the Peace Corps, there was nothing like this, in Botswana we didn't have fresh fruit or produce." Callie gushes.

Standing up and leaning so that she can close the door to the office, Arizona turns around to find herself pulled into Callie with her lips pressing softly against her own. "Hey, what's that about?" The blonde teases.

"I was reading your mind." Callie teases back. Then pulling the blonde closer, she deepens the kiss.

"If you were reading my mind, we'd be naked on the couch." Arizona replies playfully.

"Oh, that sounds perfect." Callie says reaching up to remove the blonde's lab coat.

"Callie, no not in the office. It's too early, someone could come in and see us." Arizona says pulling the lab coat back on.

"Really? Who are you and what did you do with Arizona?" The brunette says shocked that the blonde wouldn't just lock the door.

"Uh, well it is illegal in this country, Callie. I mean the political leaders aren't enforcing the ban on same-sex relationships right now, but technically it is illegal here, so we need to be careful." Arizona explains to her.

"Oh my god, I didn't even think of that." Callie says suddenly getting it. But then confused she asks, "How are we able to share a room then?"

"Oh that's easy. I had the two extra rooms painted, so that you'd have to room with me." Arizona replies laughing.

"You're quite resourceful Dr Robbins." Callie says smiling brightly.

"I can be very resourceful, Dr Torres," Arizona replies returning the smile.


	16. Chapter 16

**_Just a note to let you know that I updated the previous chapter prior to posting this one. Oh and a reminder to not trust the medicine, I am pulling a GA and sort of making this up a bit to fit the storyline. I do research this stuff but I can't always find what I need to fit the story and this is one of those times. Hopefully it reads well, it's just not really the way this would actually work._**

* * *

"Azibo, this is the doctor that I told you about. She is here to fix your legs so that you can play outside with your brothers." Arizona tells the young boy in his native tongue.

He smiles and Callie smiles back at him as she begins his final examination and reviews the surgical plan with the two doctors who will be assisting her.

As they leave the room, Callie pulls the blonde aside and says, "I've known you almost seven years and yet, you still amaze me with your depth of care and understanding for your patients."

Flashing a brilliant smile at the brunette, Arizona says, "Finish up here and I'm going to go check on Chotsani. Come in when you're done here. I can't wait for you to meet her."

* * *

From the doorway, Callie silently watches Arizona with Chotsani, the little girl is mesmerized by the blonde and can't stop touching her hair. The blonde is saying something that is making her giggle and Callie can't help but smile herself, even though she has no idea what's being said.

"Would you like to come in Dr Torres?" Arizona asks without looking up, then flashing a big smile the blonde looks up at her and Callie melts.

"I-I just love watching you with children, you're so so amazing with them. That little girl is miserable, yet she looks like any happy two year old there with you." Callie says softly entering the room and pulling up a chair to sit down.

"I was just telling her that there was a beautiful doctor coming to fix her legs so they don't hurt any more and she'll be able to run and play outside soon." Arizona replies moving the little girl over to the bed, so that Callie can examine her.

Smiling, Callie leans forward and Arizona introduces her to the little girl in both English and Chichewa.

"Oh, does she understand English?" Callie asks.

"Not yet, but she'll learn it easily. Look how easily Sofia is picking up Spanish from you." Arizona reminds her.

"Good point." Callie says still smiling at the blonde. Then turning her smile to the small patient, Callie begins talking to her softly as she examines her. Arizona translates when needed but the whole examination only takes a few minutes.

Standing to go to the door, Arizona waves for the nurse to come in to the room. Callie stands up and hands Charlie the chart and says, "Let's review these instructions, I want to make sure that we get her started on these medications right away."

"Okay Dr Torres." Charlie replies and follows the brunette down the hall.

"Okay Chotsani, let's get you back into bed and Charlie will be in here soon." Arizona tells the little girl.

Standing at the door, the blonde just watches Callie talking with the nurse down the hall.

Callie looks up and sees the blonde and smiles, then goes back to talking.

* * *

"You do realize that people are wondering why we keep going into my office, don't you?" Arizona teases her as she pulls her close and kisses her.

"They don't actually, because you look at me like that. So all we're doing is giving them deniability, since they haven't seen us kiss." Callie reminds her, as she pulls her close and deepens the kiss.

"Well, I think you're enjoying all this sneaking around business." Arizona says teasing her and moving them to the couch.

"I'm pretty sure that you just locked the door and maneuvered us to the couch."Callie reminds her.

Laughing Arizona rips off her shirt and says, "I can't help it if you're going to look at me like that Dr Torres, then I'm going to need to kiss you."

"Like what?" Callie says removing the blonde's lab coat and then leering at the blonde's breasts as they threaten to burst from her tank top.

Pulling off Callie's lab coat and scrub top to reveal a beautiful red bra, Arizona begins kissing her way down the Latina's skin. Suddenly they are interrupted by the phone ringing in the office.

"Arizona Robbins." She says as she answers the phone, slightly out of breath. She pauses a moment to listen and then says, "Thank you. I'll be right there." Arizona says as she hangs up the phone.

Pouting as the blonde puts her lab coat back on, Callie reaches over for her scrub top.

"Chotsani isn't settling down, so I need to go check on her." Arizona explains as she opens the door and leaves.

* * *

"Chotsi, baby girl, what's wrong?" Arizona asks the little girl as enters the room.

At the sound of the blonde's voice, the little girl stops crying and looks up and says tearfully, "Zozo, here," and holds up her little arms for Arizona to pick her up.

"Okay, baby. Come here." Arizona says as she picks her up and coos to her to get her to settle down.

"Charlie, she feels hot. What's her temperature?" Arizona asks the nurse.

"It was 99.9 ten minutes ago." He replies, taking it again. "Oh, wow, it's at 103 now."

"Okay, let's get her in a cool bath and get it down. Get me a lab kit, let's run a CBC with diff. I need to know what's going on here." Arizona says worried.

Turning around she sees Callie in the doorway, "Anything that I can do Dr Robbins?" She asks.

"Yes, grab that kit and take her blood while I hold her. We need to rush it to the lab." Arizona says, "Thank you Dr Torres."

Pulling up the gown on the child to take her blood, Callie sees the rash. "Uh, Dr Robbins, lay her down on the bed please and let's clear the room." Callie says nodding down at the rash.

Spotting the flower shaped rash that is a classic sign of Typhoid fever, Arizona replies quickly. "Charlie we've all been exposed." Arizona replies softly as she strips the gown off the child. "please close the door and let's finish the examination."

Clearing her throat, Arizona looks at the nurse and explains, "She has a small rash here on her legs, Charlie did you notice this before?"

"No, there was no rash when I changed her earlier," he replies. Then recognizing the rash, he asks, "Wait are you thinking she may have typhoid fever?"

"It's probably not Typhoid, that rash could be anything." Callie reminds the blonde. "And we've all had the vaccine."

"Right, I am aware of that Dr Torres. But we could still carry it out and it could spread to other patients." Arizona reminds her. Then walking over to the phone on the wall, Arizona makes a call, "Brenda, we need to implement our infectious disease protocol STAT."

"Do you think that is necessary? I'll run this to the lab and have the results of this test in 15 minutes." Callie questions.

"We can't risk it. The typhoid vaccine isn't available in this community, so if it is Typhoid, it could be an epidemic." Arizona explains, nervously chewing on her lip.

"Oh god, well I'll go and get this tested." Callie says holding up the blood vials and moving towards the door.

Opening the door, she is surprised to see the tent already set up. "Dr Torres, you'll need to strip off your clothes and step into the sterilization shower that is being set up to your left." Dr Andersen directs her.

"Dr Andersen, this blood needs to be tested right away." Callie says trying to exit without complying.

"Dr Stewart will take the blood to the lab, Dr Torres. You will stay here and go through the exposure protocol." He directs her again.

Huffing, Callie hands over the blood samples to the outstretched gloved hand of Dr Stewart and then she begins stripping off her clothes as she steps into the makeshift shower.

Just as the brunette is getting dressed again, she hears the door open and Charlie steps out. Andersen directs him to do the same thing.

"Okay, Dr Andersen. I'm done, can I please go to the lab now and check on the blood testing." Callie asks him.

"Yes, you may proceed to the lab Dr Torres." He replies.

* * *

"Dr Stewart, what have you found out?" Callie asks as she enters the lab, still trying to get the water out of her ear.

"Wow, you're fast." She remarks looking up from the microscope.

"That water was freaking cold." Callie says moving in to look at the slides.

"Holy hell, there's a lot going on in that sample." Callie says as Ashley moves away from the microscope and let's her take a look.

"Everything is off the charts, I can't even begin to count these different cells, Chotsi is fighting off something big." Dr Stewart remarks.

Grabbing the phone on the wall, Callie calls the office, "Who is your contact at the World Health Organization?" she asks when Brenda answers.

"It's Dr Craig Coulson. Do we need to contact him?" Brenda asks.

"Can you patch me in to Chotsi's room so we can discuss this with Dr Robbins?" Callie asks.

"Yes, hold on a moment." Brenda says, a few minutes later, she returns. "Dr Robbins, Dr Torres we're connected."

"Dr Robbins, her blood count is so high we can't count the differential," Callie explains, "Can we send the slide to World Health and have them review it?"

"I haven't alerted them yet, can you describe what you're seeing to me?" Arizona asks.

"There are so many cells in the blood we can't count anything." Callie replies.

"Are the cells in clumps by type?" Arizona asks.

The other two doctors reevaluate the slides and then Callie replies, "yes, it appears that they are."

"Okay, well that's good. It's not Typhoid. But it could be Chikungunya." Arizona remarks.

"Brenda, go ahead and connect me to Craig Coulson. We may need to locate an authority on Chikungunya infections and he'll know one." She replies, then to Callie and Ashley she asks, "Dr Stewart can you please do an inventory of the antibiotics that we have on hand and take the list to Brenda. Dr Coulson will ask her when she gets a hold of him."

* * *

"Dr Torres, here's the fact sheet on Chikungunya that the CDC sent." Brenda says as Callie enters the office.

Reviewing the fact sheet. Callie shakes her head. "This is wrong, it's not Chikungunya."

"How can you be so sure, Dr Torres." Brenda asks.

"Because I have the rash," Callie says pulling up her sleeve.

"Oh no, that's not good." Brenda replies. "Let me get Dr Robbins on the phone again."

"Dr Robbins? I have Dr Torres here and well..." Brenda looks over at Callie unsure what to say.

"Arizona, I have the rash on my arm. Have you checked your arms?" Callie asks concerned.

"Oh crap, I have it on my arm too." She replies, "Its not Chikungunya. It's got to be typhoid, but we were both vaccinated." Arizona begins to say.

"Oh god, that means it may be a new strain of Typhoid." Callie says finishing the blonde's thought.

"Get Craig back on the phone. Have Dr Andersen set up the digital microscope and turn on the wifi in the lab to transmit the data directly to WHO over the secure connection." Arizona replies. "Callie, can you run point on this?"

"Yes, of course. I'm on it. Just sit tight and I'll send Charlie back in with an IV cocktail for both of you. What's Chotsi weigh right now, 21 pounds?" Callie asks already working out the dosage for the little girl in her head.

Pulling out the chart from the inside the door, Arizona flips it open and replies, "She was 19 pounds this morning."

"Okay, I've got it." Callie says handing the info to Dr Stewart for her to review. "Ashley is reviewing it now. We'll have the IVs set up soon."

"What about yours Callie? You've got the rash, so you need to start on an IV right away." Arizona reminds her.

"Right, okay. But I'm going to talk to WHO first and see what they think about our theory." Callie says. "Arizona if it's a new strain of Typhoid..."

"Callie, stop talking. Let's not go there just yet, okay?" Arizona replies.


	17. Chapter 17

**_Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment on this plot twist, glad that you're enjoying it and I'm hoping to be able to post a chapter every other day until I can conclude the story._**

* * *

Callie enters the room and locks eyes with Arizona. The blonde lays Chotsi down and crosses the room and embraces her. "Okay, tell me what you know." She says softly.

"It's not anything they've seen before, but they agree that it could be a new strain of Typhoid, so they have recommended that we begin IV therapy." Callie begins.

"Calliope, then why aren't you on an IV?" Arizona asking interrupting her.

"We don't have enough for me yet, but WHO is bringing more and I will start it when it gets here." She explains.

"I don't like that plan at all." Arizona says, moving to remove her IV line.

"Wait Arizona, what are you doing?" Callie says stopping her.

"I'm not going to be on this IV therapy if there isn't enough for you." Arizona explains.

"But you need to be on it, your blood test shows that you're as infected as Chotsi." Callie says softly, pulling her down to sit beside her on the other bed. "You're warm," she says picking up the thermometer and running it across the blonde's forehead.

"What is it?" Arizona asks and then gasps. "101? I didn't even realize that I had a fever."

"Look, we are under quarantine until they identify this. Do you think we should call your parents?" Callie asks.

"Not just yet, it's middle of the night in Baltimore right now. Let's wait and see." Arizona replies leaning on the brunette's shoulder.

"Arizona, just go ahead and lay down." Callie says standing up and pulling a chair over. I'm going to monitor you both since I'm already exposed."

"Where's Charlie?" Arizona asks.

"He's in another room and he's on an IV." Callie replies.

"Oh good then he's okay." Arizona says softly as she finally lays down on the bed.

Biting her lip Callie remains silent. She can't lie to the blonde, so she just doesn't want to say anything more. If Arizona knew that Charlie was running a high fever and delirious, she would demand to see him and that wouldn't do her any good. She just needs to rest and let the medicine get into her system.

* * *

Dosing across the bed, Callie wakes up when Chotsi begins to cry.

"Hey, Chotsi." Callie says softly, moving to sit up off the bed so she can see the little girl better. Reaching over she feels her and the fever has broken. Then reaching over to check Arizona, Callie is relieved that she too feel cooler.

"Okay little one, what do you need?" Callie asks her and then begins to examine her to try to figure it out.

Arizona stirs in the other bed and then slowly wakes up. "Cal?" She asks looking around the room, "Callie?"

"I'm right here Arizona, I'm with Chotsi. I don't suppose you can talk to her and find out how she's feeling?" Callie asks.

Sitting up, the blonde scoots to the edge of the bed and begins talking to the little girl.

"She hurts all over. Is it time to give her some more Tylenol?" Arizona asks looking at the clock.

Reaching over to open the chart, Callie looks at the notes and checks the clock. "Yes, I can give her another dose. How about you? How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. I feel a little rundown, but not too bad. I do have a killer headache though." The blonde admits.

"I have something stronger than Tylenol for you then." Callie says handing her a cup with a pill in it.

"How much stronger? Calliope, I don't want anything too strong, I am still the director of this clinic and I need to be able to function when the World Health Organization arrives." Arizona counters.

"It's Norco for the headache, I know that you have a high pain threshold, so if you say it's a killer headache, then it's a blinding headache for anyone else." Callie replies. "Andersen is your assistant director and he's stepped up and is leading your team through this. He's been on the phone with WHO and is taking care of everything." She adds.

Coughing lightly, Arizona takes the pill and then lays back down.

That's when Callie realizes how sick the blonde actually is, she normally would continue to argue or debate, but compliance definitely means that she isn't feeling well at all.

Looking over at Chotsi, who is sleeping quietly again and then back over to Arizona. The blonde's eyes are closed and her breathing is evening out. Relieved, Callie stands up and goes over to the door and steps out into the hall.

One door over she sees Stephanie. "Stephanie." Callie calls to her softly.

"Dr Torres, is everything all right?" She asks as she approaches the doctor.

"Yes, um I'm beginning to run a fever, but both Chotsi and Dr Robbins' fevers have broken. Can you get me something to take for a headache?" Callie asks her.

Reaching out to take Callie's pulse, Stephanie also feels her forehead. "You're burning up Dr Torres. We need to get you in a bed with an IV and some antibiotics."

Moving quickly, Stephanie manages to get Callie in a wheel chair and pushes her into the next room. Picking up the phone, she tells Dr Andersen what's going on and then she hangs up and looks at Callie.

"Are you going to move into the bed or do I need to call for assistance?" She asks putting her hands on her hips.

"I-I'll do it. Wow, I'm not feeling so good. All the sudden, I'm light-headed and ..." she stops talking as she begins to get sick. Stephanie quickly hands her the small trash can beside the bed and Callie just makes it in time.

Dr Andersen walks in with the IV and antibiotics and he looks very concerned. "Dr Torres, can you tell me how you're feeling?" He asks as he helps her remove her lab coat and he looks at her arms before choosing one for the IV line.

"I-I was feeling tired and my head hurt, then I got light-headed and nauseous." She explains. Then glancing down she watches him insert the IV line and she begins to gag again. He pauses and hands her the trash can again.

"Stephanie!" He calls out and the nurse appears. "Get me a dose of 12.5 mg compazine for Dr Torres' IV, please."

"Any chance that you're pregnant?" He asks her.

"Definitely not. There is no chance at all." Callie replies confidently.

"Okay, good, then the nausea is related to the infection." He says out loud.

"What's going on?" Arizona asks entering the room dragging her IV pole along with her. "Callie? Are you okay?"

"She's becoming asymptomatic, I've started her IV and we're giving her an anti-emetic." Dr Andersen explains.

"An anti-emetic?" Arizona asks, leaning over Callie, she picks up her hand and takes her pulse, then feels her temperature. She's burning up and her pulse rate is elevated." Arizona says.

"Arizona, I'm okay. He just put Compazine in the IV, it's normal that it has elevated my pulse rate. Now you need to lie down and let Dr Andersen take care of me." Callie says hoping to calm her down.

Sitting down on the other chair, Arizona experiences a bit of nausea herself.

"Dr Robbins, are you okay?" Stephanie asks.

"Yes, just a little light-headed." She replies. "When is Dr Coulson arriving?"

"Any time now." Dr Andersen replies.

* * *

"They are all stable right now." Dr Andersen explains to Dr Coulson as they sit in the lab reviewing each case and the most recent blood test results.

"Hmm," Coulson says as he looks over the data. Then moving over to his laptop, he begins typing. Pausing he says, "I want to go in and examine this myself. Before I go any further."

"Okay, yeah." Dr Andersen says a bit disappointed, he was hoping that Coulson would discuss the cases first.

"I want to see Torres and Jones first, then Robbins and the child." He explains as they walk down the hall.

* * *

Sitting down with Callie and Arizona and Dr Andersen, Coulson clears his throat and then turns his laptop around so they can see it.

"Here's the situation. The first slide is what a typical Typhoid patient's cell count looks like." He says, then clicking to the next screen, he continues. "Here's a comparative of each of your cell counts."

"That doesn't make any sense, they are all different." Callie points out.

"Now here's the slide comparative of just Chotsi's blood work." He continues the presentation.

"Wait, so there's cell differentiation, through stages of the infection?" Arizona asks looking carefully at the data.

"So the antibiotics are working, since Arizona and I haven't experienced the same stages that Charlie and Chotsi have?" Callie remarks.

'Yes, that's my conclusion as well, Dr Torres. But the question that remains is what are we dealing with? Jones never had a rash and his fever spiked so high that he had a seizure. None of the others experienced that so we need to understand the differences." Dr Coulson explains.

"Wait, Charlie changed Chotsi's diaper the most, so maybe he's been infected longer." Arizona suggests.

"Did either of you change a diaper?" Coulson asks.

"No, but she is teething and I had my hand in her mouth yesterday. I, uh, didn't have gloves on." The blonde admits.

"I examined her yesterday, but I had gloves on and didn't exchange any fluids with her. I also took her blood for the lab.

Taking both of their hands, Coulson examines them for broken skin. "Okay, so let's review the last twenty-four hours for each of you and see if we can figure out the mode of transmission."


	18. Chapter 18

"Callie, it's obvious that you were exposed through contact with me. We'll need to tell him. It's not a big deal, he's not affiliated with the Malawi government, and he's French for godsake." She adds.

"Arizona WHO is still going to file a report with the Ministry of Health. We can explain that we were sharing a suite, but that won't explain how we managed to swap bodily fluids if it turns out that is how this is transmitted." Callie points out.

"Okay then let's think through all of your interactions with Chotsi, did she sneeze or cough when you were in the room?" Arizona asks. "Wait, she was crying. Did you pick her up when she was crying yesterday?"

"I did, you know that I did. And I took her blood, but I was wearing gloves when I took her blood." Callie reminds her.

"But you weren't wearing gloves when she was crying, you just poked your head into to see when I would be done and I handed her to you while we were talking. In fact, I showed you her new tooth and we both had our fingers in her mouth, you could have been exposed by that contact." Arizona says confidently.

"But I also could have been exposed through contact with you. Arizona we can't jeopardize the investigation by misreporting the facts." Callie remarks.

* * *

"Craig, I need to discuss something of a sensitive nature with you for the purpose of this investigation, but in the event the information is not deemed as necessary to the investigation, than I would request that it not be made a part of the final report. I understand that this is highly unusual and perhaps..." Arizona begins but then he smiles and she stops talking.

"Arizona, I have known you a long time. Let me spare you this conversation and let's not discuss it further. I will not be making any reference to the nature of your relationship with Dr Torres in this report, especially since I do not believe it is relevant. I fully understand this situation and the sensitive nature of your position here. I have long admired your ability to give so much to this country in spite of its political climate." He remarks putting her at ease.

"Oh thank you. Craig. I was so worried. Wait, you don't think it's relevant. How do you think Cal, er, Dr Torres contracted the virus if it wasn't through contact with me?" Arizona asks.

"That's just it it's not a virus, its a bacterial infection. The mere fact that Dr Torres was in the room is enough for exposure, and since each of you is in a different exposure stage, we are seeing the bacteria mutate across the stages." He explains, showing her the exposure graph that he's working out.

"Oh." Arizona exclaims letting out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding.

"Of course, you and everyone in the clinic are still under quarantine. I'm waiting for a call back from the Ministry of Health with their guidelines for lifting the quarantine." Craig reminds her. "My people are taking every precaution not to contract it and we are trying to confirm that the bacteria is no longer viable. We've been here almost 12 hours now and no one new has contracted the infection, so it looks promising."

"Okay, that is good news. But wait, I thought WHO controlled the quarantine status." She remarks.

"No, we work with the government to ensure that we've met all of their criteria before we can lift a quarantine, but it is up to each government to actually lift the quarantine." He explains.

"Oh, well Callie and I have a child at home with my parents and we were due back at the end of this month. I guess I should call and let them know that we may not return on time." Arizona says thinking out loud.

"You both are asymptomatic right now. But we'll need at few weeks or more to ensure that you remain that way and that no one else contracts the infection." He explains.

Sitting down on the lab stool, Arizona puts her hands over her mouth as she realizes that's only part of the problem, "Oh god, then the US will quarantine us before we can go home and then the state may have additional requirements before we can return to the hospital." She says suddenly realizing the gravity of the situation. "I should go make some phone calls." She says moving towards the door.

"Arizona, don't worry that is all worst case." He advises.

"Thanks Craig, please let me know if you need anything further from me. Oh and Callie is an excellent researcher, she'd love to come in here and help you." Arizona comments before she leaves.

"I'd love to have her on this. I read her cartilage research and I find her work brilliant." He responds.

* * *

Returning to her office, Arizona is surprised to see Callie sitting there waiting for her. "Callie, I thought you were taking a nap." She says entering and sitting down beside her on the couch.

"I couldn't sleep. How did it go with Dr Coulson?" She asks looking into those deep blue eyes, hoping to see hope there.

Tiredly Arizona rubs her eyes and face, "We're under quarantine and won't be able to leave the country until the Ministry of Health lifts the order. Then we will probably face quarantine in the US before we can return home or see Sofia." She replies sadly.

"I know all of that and we need to call your parents and explain it to them. What does he know about the virus so far?" Callie asks.

"It's not a virus, it's a bacterial infection that we all were exposed to possibly by being in the same room as Chotsi. They have isolated the incubation period and are now tracking our movements to determine who all we exposed to the infection. So far no one else is exhibiting any symptoms, so that is a good sign that we didn't contaminate the entire clinic. They are going to sanitize our suite this afternoon, so we may have to spend another night here in the clinic." She explains.

"Hmm, is Charlie awake now? I guess that we can create his time line from his schedule and charting. Any chance Craig would let me help with that? I could probably help with those calculations, also has he considered the incubation period. I've only been here for 96 hours, and Chotsi has been here for over two weeks." Callie points out.

"Oh, he asked if you'd like to work with him, apparently he's a fan of your work." Arizona says smiling.

"He's read my cartilage research?" She asks.

"Yes, he has. He said it was brilliant." Arizona informs her.

"Great, then I will go see if he needs a hand." She says standing up to leave.

"Callie wait, I think we should call Mom and Dad together, so they can see that we're both okay and hopefully see Sofia too." Arizona suggests.

"Oh good point, well it is about bedtime for Sofia, so we should probably call right now." She says looking at the clock.

"Just what I was thinking." Arizona says flipping up her laptop and logging onto Skype.

It takes a few minutes for her mom to respond, but suddenly the screen fills up and they can both see Barbara, she waves to them.

"Hello, oh I get both of you?" Barbara says happily, then noticing the stress on Arizona's face, she adds, "Daniel just put Sofia to bed, but he's gone to get her now. What's wrong Arizona?"

"Mom, there's been a slight complication. We had several people contract a bacterial infection and we're under quarantine, the whole clinic is under quarantine. WHO is here now investigating and working to identify the source of the infection, but we're fine." Arizona begins to explain.

"Who put you under quarantine, the Ministry of Health or World Health?" Barbara asks, having researched these situations since the first time Arizona traveled to Africa.

"It's World Health, but they can't lift the quarantine without the Ministry of Health's approval." Arizona explains.

"Then you'll be detained here by the US for a minimum of two weeks." Barbara replies, then asks, "How sick were you? You look like you've lost weight."

"I always lose weight in Africa, Mom. And we don't know a lot yet. It presented like Typhoid, but it may be a new strain of something else." Arizona replies.

"Oh, that's not good at all. If it's a new disease the US could have you in quarantine for 90 days." Barbara informs them.

"Yes, Mrs Robbins, we realize that. Which is why we wanted to call and give you a heads up." Callie replies.

"Mama?" Sofia says in a sleepy voice as she hears Callie's voice.

"Hey sweet girl, how are you?" Callie asks her, reaching out to touch the screen.

"I miss you Mama." Sofia says, then she sees Arizona, "Momma! I miss you so much." She adds.

"Oh baby, I miss you too." Arizona replies tearfully.

* * *

Turning away from the computer after telling Sofia good night, Callie and Arizona look at each other as they wipe tears from their eyes. "This sucks." Callie says softly.

Pulling the brunette in for a hug, Arizona agrees silently.

"Okay, so I'm going to go to the lab and see what I can do to help Dr Coulson." Callie says pulling away from her.

"I-I'll go check on Chotsi." Arizona says watching her leave. "Good luck." She calls out after her.

Before Arizona leaves her office the phone rings. "Dr Robbins", she says as she picks it up.

"Arizona Robbins, I want to know everything. What were you exposed to and how sick were you? Was Callie sick, she looks like she's been sick too." Daniel asks sternly.

"Dad, I'm okay. I was sick for about 24 hours, but the IV meds got it under control quickly. World Health got here quickly and brought the latest antibiotics for us to take and we're doing much better. We have two children here at the clinic and we believe that one of them was the source of the exposure. Unfortunately, she's one of the reasons that Callie is here, so Callie examined her and was also exposed. Charlie, the nurse who first treated her got very sick at the same time that we realized that Chotsi was sick, so we are tracking their interactions to determine who was infected first." Arizona explains. "Dad, don't say anything to anyone in the states, this is quite sensitive and could become international news. We're hoping that once we trace it we can better determine what it is and hopefully, it's not a new strand of anything and just a rare strand of something."

"Oh my god, Arizona this is horrible. You both could be gone for another three months, have you spoken with the hospital yet?" Barbara asks from the extension.

"No, we haven't. Although I am working on an email to let them know that we both may need more time, since we're board members that won't be a problem, although they may need to get temporary staffing to cover for us, if we're gone much longer." Arizona replies.

"Okay, so if Darren calls again to check on Sofia, what do I tell him." She asks.

"Wait, Darren called to check on Sofia?" Arizona repeats. "I didn't know that he had your number."

"Yes, Callie gave us each other's contact info, just in case and now it seems like that was a good thing. If this goes much longer, we can take Sofia back to Seattle and stay at your place, so that she can start school on time." Barbara suggests.

"Oh wow, I didn't think about that. She starts kindergarten in two months, Mom, I could miss that." Arizona says tearfully.

"Arizona, don't you worry about that one bit. Your father and I have this under control." She informs her daughter.

"I know that you do Mom, thank you so much. Oh and I'll call Darren and talk with him tomorrow, once we know more." Arizona adds, "Mom, I love you and Daddy so much. I'll call you again as soon as I have news."

"Okay baby, just take care of yourself and Callie. We need you both home and healthy. Love to both of you." She says before hanging up the phone.

* * *

"What is all this?" Arizona asks when she stops by the lab a few hours later.

"This is Charlie's timeline for the last two weeks and this is Chotsi's." Callie explains, then turning to the other two boards, she says this one is mine and this one is yours. We, uh, need you to help fill yours in, obviously."

"Given that Charlie was the one most affected, we believe that he may be patient zero and not Chotsi." Dr Coulson explains, "Although we are still working on that since none of his other patients are sick."

"But Chotsi was his main patient. He spent more time with her than anyone, besides me." Arizona points out.

"True Dr Robbins, but Stephanie also took care of Chotsi and worked with you and Charlie and she hasn't shown any signs of the infection and her blood work is negative for any signs of infection." Coulson replies.


	19. Chapter 19

_**A/N: Hope I'm not disappointing you by wrapping up the medical mystery, but I'm quickly exceeding my scope of knowledge here, but there will be a bit more of an explanation coming. The research takes time and I wanted to move the story along, so I backed off the medical stuff a bit. Hope it's not to abrupt of a transition. Thanks for all the feedback so far!**_

* * *

"Meningitis? Charlie has bacterial meningitis?" Arizona asks as she sits down with Craig and Callie to review their findings. "But how did he contract that and why aren't more people as sick as he was?"

"It's possible that he contracted the bacteria during his last post with Doctors Without Borders and it was dormant until he arrived here and then something triggered it. We're very lucky that it didn't spread to more people given the close quarters that you all share." Craig points out.

"Okay, so Chotsi got it from Charlie and passed it to Arizona and then to me. But when she got sick, we did blood work on all three of us and caught it quickly for us and just in time for him, since Charlie was sick, but hadn't yet complained of any illness until he collapsed." Callie picks up the review where Craig left off.

"So the question remains, why didn't Charlie tell anyone he was sick? He had to be feeling miserable, joint pains, headaches, fever... wait, where's his data sheet, did he have an underlying condition that masked his symptoms?" Arizona asks.

Callie and Craig begin sorting through the files, "Aha!" Callie says finding the file.

"Hmm," she says as she reads down his medical section.

"What does it say?" Arizona asks looking over her shoulder. "Fibromyalgia, ha! I'm right." She points to the line.

"Well that would explain why he didn't realize that he was sick," Callie says not quite accepting this information.

"What I still don't understand is that our blood work didn't match his. I understand the stages of infection theory, but I still don't believe that we had bacterial meningitis less than 36 hours ago."

"But we confirmed Charlie's diagnosis with a spinal tap," Callie reminds her.

"Well, that only confirms that he had it. It doesn't confirm that we had it." She remarks.

Looking over at Craig, they both wait for him to weigh in on the conversation. He looks down, clearly considering what they've said.

"Craig, do you really believe that we both had bacterial meningitis less than 36 hours ago?" Arizona asks him impatiently.

Rubbing his hand over his face, he pauses and then replies simply, "No, actually I don't think that either of you had meningitis, which is why I had your blood and cultures sent flown to the lab in Johannesburg early this morning. We'll have the results tomorrow morning."

Surprised by the answer, Callie asks suddenly, "Wait, you don't think it's meningitis either?"

Standing up to pace as he talks Craig walks them through his diagnosis of each of the patients.

"I believe that you, Arizona and Chotsi based on your blood tests, symptoms, response to antibiotics and current state of health most likely experienced a strain of Typhoid fever." He explains, then he adds, "Charlie, however, had a rare case of Meningitis with Typhoid Fever. At this point, we believe that he was the source of both infections and that is why I had him flown out to Malamulo in Blantyre last night."

Moving back to his laptop and pulling up a chart of the various types and forms of Enteric Fever he begins reviewing them."Now you both were vaccinated against both Meningitis and Typhoid prior to visiting Africa..."

"Only a new strain would get around the vaccines." Callie points out.

Nodding, Craig continues, "But the vaccines did limit the infection, so it likely is a mutation of the current strain which means that we can modify the vaccine."

Running her fingers through her hair, Arizona stands up and stretches and then leaves the room.

Glancing over to Craig, Callie starts to stand up then sits back down.

"She needs time to process this. We should just let her go." He says putting his hand on her arm.

"I know, I just hate that she's so stressed out over this. I worry that the stress will make her sick again." Callie confides.

* * *

"What the hell is this?" Callie asks when she enters their suite to find two beds.

"Callie, I think it is best if we have two beds in here. Just in case there is an investigation." Arizona explains as she walks over to her.

Nodding, Callie kicks the door shut and then pulls the blonde to her. "As long as I still get to do this when we're alone." She says kissing the blonde's neck and sucking lightly on her pulse point.

Breathing unevenly, Arizona closes her eyes as warm soft lips cover hers and she returns the kiss gently at first. Then moving her hands up into the brunette's long locks, she pulls her closer and deepens the kiss.

Breaking the kiss, they rest a moment and then Arizona begins talking.

"Callie, I've composed an email to the Board asking for an extension of our leave, making it a total of six months. I didn't mention anything about the infection, I just explained that we were going to go ahead and start an ortho clinic here due an influx of cases and the availability of surgeons for the training." The blonde says pulling Callie down to sit with her on one of the beds.

"Okay, but how can we make that happen? Will they let me train anyone if I've been recently exposed to Typhoid?" Callie asks.

"That remains to be seen. But you can still work here at the clinic on the cases that we have with the surgeons that are here, since they've all ready been exposed to whatever we were exposed to." Arizona points out.

"Well, that's true." Callie admits.

* * *

"Hey, are you ready?" Arizona asks as she stops into the lab.

"Just a moment, I need to document this and then I'll be right there." Callie says glancing up and smiling at the blonde.

It's been a month since they were cleared medically and then Azibo's surgery did not go as planned. Callie decided her best bet to repair his feet was to grow new cartilage in the lab and re-shape his feet with it so that he can walk more normally. She hurries to wrap up what she's doing so that she can join Arizona in the office.

* * *

"Hello Mom!" Arizona says when the call connects and she can see her on the screen.

"Hello darling, did you get the video?" Barbara asks.

"We did. Thank you! I can't believe that it's been two months and she's already grown so much." Arizona exclaims.

"Where's Calliope?" The older woman asks concerned.

"She's on her way, she's just finishing up in the lab." The blonde replies, "Where's Dad and Sofia?"

"They went over to get Darren and Mark, I'm afraid that you're getting all of us today." Barbara says laughing.

Suddenly there's a commotion behind her and then someone picks up the laptop and Arizona can now see the whole room and slowly all their faces come into view.

"What did I miss?" Callie asks entering the office and coming up behind the blonde, then seeing the crowd on the screen, she adds, "Whoa, hello everyone! Did you get our video tour of the clinic?" Callie asks.

"Yes, we did. Did you get our video of Sofia's first visit to her school?" Mark asks.

"We did. Thank you for doing that Uncle Mark." Callie replies smiling.

"Mami, are you and Momma going to be home soon?" Sofia asks pushing her way closer to the laptop.

Seeing their daughter's face, they both reach out to touch the screen. "It's going to be a while longer sweetheart," Arizona replies.

"Momma and I just sent you a very special package, Mija." Callie says to her daughter.

"Yay! Grandpa, can we go check the mail?" Sofia says turning to Daniel.

"Sof, I don't think it's here yet. It takes a while for packages to get to Seattle from Africa." He explains to the little sad face. "Okay, we'll go check after we're done talking with your Moms." He says picking her up.

Satisfied, she claps her hands.

Laughing at the exchange, both Callie and Arizona clasp hands and smile. It's such a relief to see their daughter happy and healthy in their home surrounded by people who love her.

"Hey Cal, the Ortho that they brought in from Hopkins is doing a great job. But the Peds fellow is a mess. They've contracted with a fetal specialist from LA to come in every couple of weeks to help out." Darren remarks.

"Addison Montgomery?" They ask in unison.

"Oh, yeah that's her. Everyone knows her, so I figured that you would too." Darren replies.

"We go way back." Callie says smiling.

"How is the project going Calliope?" Barbara asks.

"It's going really well. The cartilage will be ready in a few days and then we can reconstruct both of his feet." She replies excitedly.

"Dr Stewart, the pediatric surgeon from Baylor, has been helping her and it looks like they're going to publish together." Arizona adds proudly.

"We are, this will be the first cartilage grown in Africa and first time it's been used to repair clubfoot." Callie explains to everyone.

"The Carter-Madison foundation is quite pleased and I'm writing a new grant proposal to upgrade the lab." Arizona adds.

"Wait, you're writing a new grant proposal?" Barbara asks concerned that they aren't telling her everything.

"Mom, we'll talk later. It's not a big deal. We have a new group of doctors coming in a few weeks." The blonde informs her.

"Wait, so the ban has been lifted?" Darren asks, referring the restrictions placed on the clinic staffing by the World Health Organization, the ban restricted them from accepting new doctors during the quarantine.

"Yes, the clinic is unrestricted, but the American consulate still has a travel restriction on our passports." Callie explains.

The call lasts quite a bit longer than Arizona thought it would, but she's quite happy that everyone seems comfortable with each other. Turning to Callie as they sign off she sighs, "I miss that." She says sadly.

"I know, I do to, but we'll go home soon." Callie says putting an arm around her.


	20. Chapter 20

_**A/N: Okay, for those of you worried about whether they would make it out of Africa any time soon, this is your chapter! Also, FYI - I'm going to go another chapter or two, but this story is winding down. I have another one in mind that I'm dying to start...**_

* * *

"Azibo, come on." Callie says encouraging the young boy to stand up and take his first steps.

Arizona kneels down and talks to him in Chichewa and the little guy nervously stands up. Then his face lights up and he looks from Callie to Arizona and takes a step. Squeals happily and takes another one, as Arizona carefully guides him along then Callie takes his hands and he takes a few more steps and then sits down and stares at his feet.

"He did it!" Arizona exclaims. "Azibo! You did it!" She repeats for him.

* * *

Sitting in the office while Arizona checks her messages, Callie reclines on the couch and reflects on the last few weeks. She was able to surgically correct Chotsi's club foot and reconstruct Azibo's feet so that they are flat enough that he can now balance and walk properly.

Waiting for her computer to boot up, Arizona sits at her desk, also reflecting. "Calliope, you did it. He's walking normally. His parents will be so pleased. I spoke with Lucia and she sent them word to come visit him tomorrow. If they don't show, then I'm going to have to contact the Children's relief agency to see if they can place him in foster care." Arizona says sadly.

"But he will continue to get healthcare and his follow ups here at the clinic, right?" She asks concerned.

"They are pretty good about that, so I believe so." Arizona replies.

"What about Chotsi? Are you going to have them place her too?" Callie asks.

"I'm worried about having them place her, since she is quite a bit younger. I've spoken with Dr Andersen and he's agreed to keep her here at the clinic for a few more weeks." Arizona explains.

"Did we get cleared to travel yet?" Callie questions.

"We are cleared to travel by the Malawi government, but still waiting for the State Department to release us to go home." Arizona replies.

"Maybe we should fly to Barecelona and wait there to go home?" Callie suggests.

"Oh, I can call my cousin and see if his condo is available." Arizona replies.

"Seriously? That would be amazing." Callie replies.

"It would be awesome... sangria, beach, bikinis!" Arizona says playfully.

* * *

"Mom, we haven't been cleared yet to enter the US, so we're going to Barcelona." Arizona explains to her mother then next day. "Yes, we have permission from the Spanish government to enter without quarantine."

"How long will you have to stay?" Barbara asks.

"We're not sure, but it shouldn't be longer than two weeks. Corey says we can stay a month if needed." Arizona replies. "How is everything in Seattle?"

"Darren and Mark are a delight and so helpful. Mark and your Dad have really hit it off. They went out to Carolyn's house to do some minor repairs for her." Barbara explains.

"Oh wow, that's great." Arizona says surprised. "Have we gotten anything from the State Department at the house?"

"Nothing. Don't worry, I'll call you if anything comes." Barbara reminds her. "Honey, are you sure that you're both okay?"

"Mom, it's really hard to be away from Sofia this long, but if I have to be honest about it, I think it's been really good for us. We've reconnected on so many levels. And we've got so much to do, hopefully we can both get our articles written while we're in Barcelona and at least we can proof each others, who knows maybe we'll get them published while we're in exile." Arizona remarks.

"Well, I'm sorry that you've had to go through this, but I'm really glad that you are going through it together. You know your Dad and I are thinking of relocating to Seattle, we're really enjoying it." She admits.

"Mom, that would be fantastic. We'd love it if you and Dad were closer." Arizona replies.

* * *

Callie walks into the office and is greeted warmly. "Close the door." Arizona says turning around in her chair.

"Are we going home?" Callie says shutting the door quickly.

"No, but we are leaving Africa in three days and going to Barcelona!" Arizona replies, flashing her dimples.

"Seriously? Spain will let us in, but the US won't?" Callie says disappointed.

"Calliope, we're finally going to Barcelona!" Arizona replies crossing the room. "I know that you're disappointed and I am too, but at least we're leaving here before we get exposed to something else."

"Good point. I'm happy that we're leaving and I've always wanted to go to Spain, I just really want to go home." Callie says pouting.

"I know and so do I. But if I can't go home, at least I can go somewhere with you and relax until we can go home." Arizona says lifting up her chin and placing a soft kiss upon her lips.

"How long is the flight to Barcelona?" Callie asks.

"Fifteen hours and I booked us first class, so maybe we can sleep. We'll arrive in Barcelona at 11 am on Friday." Arizona explains. "Corey arranged a car service to pick us up at the airport and deliver us to his condo. He's going to be in France for a month on business, so we can stay as long as we need to."

"I may go crazy if we're there a month, Arizona." Callie confesses.

"Or we'll just send for Sofia and stay in Spain." Arizona replies playfully.

* * *

"We just got in Mom, everything went well." Arizona says as they look around the condo. She watches Callie open the patio doors and walk out onto the balcony. "It's gorgeous here. I gave the US Consolate the phone number here at the condo and they also have both of our email addresses and our cell phones."

"Okay dear. It's a shame that we can't just bring Sofia and join you in Spain. Your father loves that country." Barbara replies.

"I know and we'd love it, but it's not ideal circumstances. Callie and I could be cleared to return home at any time, so we're not really planning to do much here right now." Arizona remarks, then she looks around to see where Callie went and then realizes that she hears the shower running. "Mom, I'm going to let you go. We'll Skype later before Sofia goes to bed. I love you, bye."

Hanging up the phone, Arizona walks over and makes sure the door is locked, then heads in to find Callie.

"Hey," the blonde says as she stands outside the shower door, "Is there room for two in there?" She asks.

Reaching out, Callie pulls her by her shirt and kisses her. "Only if you hurry, I'm headed to the beach next!" She says laughing.

Pulling off her clothes, the blonde wastes no time getting into the shower.

Callie pulls her to her and kisses her. "Oh my god, it feels so good to be free again. Arizona, I don't know if I can go back to Africa if it means that we have to sneak around or risk deportation." Callie confesses.

"Hopefully, that will change there, like it has in the US." The blonde remarks, then adds. "Now how free to you want to be here, there's a nude beach nearby," she teases.

"Oh that sounds interesting, but then I don't know if I am up having everyone seeing you naked." Callie says playfully.

"Good, because I prefer to be the only one who gets to see you like this." Arizona says thickly, then pulling her in and kissing her harder.

"Now we just need to find bathing suits." Callie says as they get out of the shower later.

"Oh, Corey said that there's a boutique down the street that we should check out. I told him that we shipped most of our stuff home and were traveling lightly." The blonde explains.

"Well, I'm game if you are. Should we walk or take a cab?" Callie asks.

* * *

"Good morning," Arizona says the next day when Callie finally pulls off her eye mask and opens an eye.

"How long have you been up?" She asks rolling over slowly.

"An hour or so. No messages. Looks like we have the day to explore Barcelona." The blonde remarks.

Pulling the blonde down to her, Callie kisses her and then reaches an arm around her and pulls her closer.

"It's not Barcelona that I want to explore right now." She says teasingly.

"No? Tell me, babe, what do you want to explore right now?" Arizona teases back.

Brown hands move under the covers and Arizona squeals happily, "Oh, Calliope!"

Lifting up the sheet, Callie pulls her down and removes her t-shirt. "Much better," she remarks as she gazes at her creamy white skin.


	21. Chapter 21

"Oh my god, this is wonderful." Arizona exclaims as she sips sangria by the rooftop pool.

"Hmm," Callie says half asleep beside her.

"How is it possible that you just get browner and browner? It's just not fair..." Arizona exclaims as she lowers her sunglasses and looks approvingly over Callie's backside.

"Are you staring at my ass?" Callie asks teasingly.

"Hmm... It's a really nice ass." Arizona replies playfully.

Raising up on one elbow Callie looks over her sunglasses at the blonde, "Hey, you're getting burnt. We should go in."

Glancing around the pool area, Arizona realizes that they are alone so she boldly leans over and kisses the brunette and undoes her bikini top.

"Hey!" Callie says as the top falls free. "Anyone could come up here..."

"Then maybe we should get in the pool..." She says teasingly.

Sitting up Callie glances around the pool area and then stands up, "Come on baby, let's get wet!", she says pulling the blonde up and lifting her over towards the pool.

"Callie! You're not picking me up. I can make it," Arizona says before losing her balance and falling into the pool.

Laughing Callie slips in after her and wraps her in her arms and kisses her.

* * *

"Oh!, there's a message from the State Department!" Callie says as she picks up the phone.

They just got out of the shower and were drying off, when the brunette noticed the message light flashing on the phone.

"What does it say?" Arizona asks nervously.

"Arizona, it says we can go home." Callie exclaims happily, dropping the phone and running over to the blonde to kiss her.

"Oh my god, we're going home!" Arizona says as they pull back from the kiss. "Let's call Mom. Or should we get our tickets first?" She asks frantically.

"Let's do both, Callie says moving over to the laptop and holding up the cell phone for Arizona to make the call.

"Wait, it's 2 am in Seattle, we should wait to call. Let's look at flights." Arizona remarks sitting down on the bed beside the brunette.

* * *

"Sofia! Mom, Dad!" Arizona and Callie spot them as soon as they enter the concourse, exiting the customs line.

"Mami! Momma!" Sofia calls out as soon as she sees them. "I missed you so much. What did you bring me?" The little one asks.

Laughing they both smile and kiss her little head.

"Mija, you're such a big girl!" Callie says lifting her up and twirling around with her.

Watching the two of them, Arizona tears up and then turns to her mother.

"Mom." Arizona says pulling her into a long embrace. "Wait where's dad?"

"He stayed in the car, we're to call him before we exit, so he can pull up to get us." She explains, "He was worried that walking out to the car would be too much for you after the flight."

* * *

"Colonel Robbins!" Callie says as he pulls up and gets out of the Suburban.

"Good to see you Calliope," he says as he takes their bags and puts them in the back. "Load up girls, we need to get moving!"

Buckling Sofia into the chair between them, Arizona smiles when Callie climbs in the other side. "You have no idea how good it feels to be home." She says to her parents.

"I have an idea." Daniel teases her, as he glances back into the rear view window.

"Of course you do, Dad." Arizona replies, realizing that he of all people would know how it feels to get home.

"I'm just so relieved that we didn't have to undergo quarantine again." Callie exclaims as she reaches over and pulls Sofia close to her again.

"Well, we're very glad to have you both home and we have a surprise for you." Barbara says as she reaches over and for Daniel's hand and squeezes it.

* * *

"You bought a condo in our building?" Arizona asks surprised.

"Yes, we called your realtor and we looked at it and it's well, it's perfect for us." Barbara replies.

"Well, we can't wait to see it." Callie remarks. "When do you close?"

"Actually we close next Thursday." Daniel says entering the room. "Our old place sold first day on the market for cash, so we've already had it all shipped here in a pod, that's sitting out at Amelia's place." He explains.

"At Amelia Shepherd's place? Where is that exactly?" Callie asks.

"Oh didn't I tell you, she bought Derek's place from Meredith." Arizona replies.

"Meredith actually got Alex to sell her house back to her?" Callie asks.

"Yep, now Alex and Jo are living in a loft downtown. We're supposed to go over there for dinner this week." Arizona informs her.

A knock at the door is followed by Daniel opening it and Darren bursting in.

"You're both back!" He says as he enters the room and swoops Arizona up in a big hug. "Damn, I've missed you." He exclaims, then moving towards Callie, he pulls her into a big hug and kisses her cheek. "I missed you too!"

Laughing, Callie hugs him back. "Thanks for all your help, it was so good to know that you were here to help with Sofia while we were stuck in Malawi."

"Hey, did you hear about the two kids that are transferring in from your clinic, Arizona?" Darren asks as they all move to sit down.

"No, I haven't checked email or anything yet since we got back. What's going on?" She asks him, glancing nervously at Callie.

"Darren, is it Azibo and Chotsi? I operated on both of them before we left, they're okay aren't they?" Callie asks.

"Yeah, they just arrived yesterday. I can't believe that Brenda didn't tell you about it, Arizona." He remarks.

"Well, while we were in Spain, I didn't read any emails unless they were from the State Department or the US Consolate," she explains.

"Well, the Catholic Relief agency contacted Hopkins and Hopkins contacted the Chief. It seems that these two children are at risk due to their families abandoning them. The Relief Agency wanted them to get continual care from Dr Torres, so the Chief worked it out with the local Catholic Foundation and now they are being admitted into our outpatient rehab program and they are looking for foster parents," Darren explains.

* * *

 _ **A/N: don't hate me for stopping here, but I want to leave this one open for a possible sequel...**_


End file.
